The Tempered Bond
by pardus9
Summary: Bonds are everything in life. Whether we know it or not, we all share a bond with someone. Each one of these bonds is unique and never one and the same. Some bring great joy and others bring great pain. But, just like people bonds can change, and those changes can lead to either something amazing or terrible. Post Rebirth;1. Art by Zbobo.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

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Gamindustri- the beautiful world in the sky, separated into the four great landmasses we of this world have to come to know as with its CPUs (Console Patron Unit):

Planeptune, Land of Purple Progress ruled by CPU Lady Purple Heart.

Lastation, Land of Black Regality ruled by CPU Lady Black Heart.

Lowee, Land of White Serenity ruled by CPU Lady White Heart.

Leanbox, Land of Green Pastures ruled by CPU Lady Green Heart.

These four nations originally were at war in what was known as the Console War. A gruesome war that has lasted for years with no end in sight.

Or so we all thought, no one is quite clear on what happened but from what we learned, apparently Lady Purple Heart got amnesia somehow and went out to unite all of Gamindustri in the arms of friendship. There were some issues that occurred in all the landmasses, Lastation had big issue with Avenir that was resolved with the company being repurposed, Lowee had some sort of imposter CPU, and Leanbox had something about an Overlord Momus happen. Luckily our guardians were able to resolve all these issues and everything was able to slowly be returned to normal fairly quickly.

Aside from the continued threat of monsters that no one has any idea of where they come from (seriously it's as if the things are always meant to spawn in certain points or something), all is peaceful in Gamindustri now. With peace finally established between each nation and the birth of the CPU Candidates in all the nations (except in Leanbox), Gamindustri has never looked so bright before.

Although that can't exactly be said about Lastation still, as Lastation was the nation that suffered the most. Yes, this will be taking place in my beautiful home of Lastation. The country I was born and raised in and have stayed true to, even among all the strife. I still hold Lastation dear to my heart and as such: Lady Black Heart, the goddess and Console Patron Unit of Lastation.

Truth be told, there was a lot of movement between nations in the period of conflict everyone we had undergone. Many citizens from each of the four land masses began moving in and out. As such the populace of Lastation had lowered quite the amount, even with all the work our goddess put in to better the conditions in Lastation.

Although it's not as if her work isn't doing anything. With all the destruction that Avenir caused during their "experiments", many parts of Lastation were destroyed completely. But, with our CPU and CPU candidate hard at work, all these areas have been repaired and even improved upon! Thanks to their hard work the nation of Lastation is heading towards better times regardless of the issues that it had faced.

Is what I would like if it weren't for the loss of people. Much of the population left when they realized this all happened due to the Goddess having been so easily removed by a company like Avenir. Understandably, many people lost faith in a Goddess that was easily pushed away, as a result the regrowth of Lastation has been rather slow due to the lack of people to help rebuild, but progress is being made.

As a matter of fact, even amongst all of this, Lastation's people are still as prideful as ever. The people themselves all help pitch out to our Goddess in the rebuilding of Lastation. Many charities are held to help raise funds for rebuilding, volunteers for labor, bringing lost families together and all sorts of things whatever people can come up with to help ou. It's truly astounding to see the entire nation come together to fix their home. Well except for the monster issue.

See, during the incident many of the veteran hunters lost their lives trying to fight back in the absence of the goddess and as such many lost their lives. So now the only real fighting force against the monsters that are always trying to knock down the walls is our CPU and CPU Candidate.

As you might have probably already guessed from that, I had taken up protecting Lastation as my part for rebuilding Lastation. Since I've never really done well with people, I decided to do the solo job of taking out nearby monsters to help keep the peace. Also it comes with the deal with learning how to use a sword! Always wanted to use one, like some sort of main protagonist in a manga/anime.

…..Anyway, my fantasies aside. Today is like any other in the steampunk land of Lastation. One could clearly hear the pounding and shouts of people at work early in the day. One thing Lastation was known for was waking up early. This applied to me as well since I was bright and awake at 6AM today.

Well to correct that, I've been out for a long time and it's reached about 3PM. As I said before since most of the hunters are gone now (bless them), I'm one of the rare hunters going out now. I say rare because frankly, I think I'm the only one brave enough (or foolish, take your pick) to go out and do such a dangerous job when I could instead be inside the city walls and helping out some other way. I can back this up as I haven't seen anyone out in the fields or even much traffic in the guild.

Speaking of the guild, that's where one goes to get quests for payment and such. Depending on the quest's difficulty, the payment is different from amazing to decent. It's a little surprising that quests still are even in the system for the guild and even functioning. The guild itself was hit rather hard by Avenir but the few computers that do work are being handled by the Basillicom. The quests themselves are usually given by the citizens, so it's a little weird that quests are still being made since most people are to busy helping with the rebuilding effort. It's as if they are randomly generated or something...

Anyway, currently I'm out completing my quest for the day. Since my level isn't high and I'm a normal 18-year-old human, I'm unable to do too much. It also doesn't help I'm still recovering from an injury to my left leg currently. That spider really got me good, poison and all has made it slow to heal as well. I'd normally do a D slaying quest and a few E rank fetch/slay quests in a day to help lessen the burden on the CPUs, but with this injury I can't do much. Especially since _she_ would make a huge hassle about it.

So here I am trying to take it easy, monologuing to myself to help pass the time as I make my way back to the tram system to take me back to Lastation as I had just finished my last fetch quest of the day. Speaking of making my way back, now that I finished with my thoughts, it's actually quite quiet in he dungeon now...

Since I was told to take it easy to let my wound heal as fast as possible, I avoided needless battles to try to do just that.

As such I hadn't noticed the lack of monsters.

Now this is quite the anomaly since I hadn't seen anyone on my way in or out of this dungeon so far. I avoided most of the monsters and had gone all way to the end of the dungeon but no sign of anyone in that time so far...So they must already be gone? Well best to keep moving, whoever passed through made it quite easy for me to avoid getting hurt more. Especially to stay away from the Ancient Dragon that's close to the entrance.

Deciding to thank the Goddess for this boon, I quicken my pace to get out of the dungeon before the monsters respawn. I really wonder how I didn't notice them being gone? Like, I had come here prepared to fight hard since my injury wouldn't allow me to run away easily so-

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR*

What th-

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

…..Well those were a set of noises I can't ignore no matter how much I wish I could. Especially since it's near the bridge I'm about to cross.

*Sigh*"Some things can never be easy can they, eh life?" I say to myself as I prepare myself to run towards the two noises…

The scene I come upon isn't something I ever expected to happen upon. Seeing a girl running away from an Ancient Dragon towards a cliff. Totally isn't something I **EVER** expected to see. I mean, I expected to have multiple scars and battle wounds on my body by the end of it. Maybe a broken body part or two, getting some cool treasure from a dungeon due to the random nature of them, or something. Really, in this line of work that I expected to only do for maybe 2-3 years? That would be enough for me to save a good amount of credits, support Lastation, and be experienced enough to last my life time right?

Of course all that went out the window with what I'm seeing now. Definitely didn't think I'd see something like this...

From what I can tell from my position at the bridge leading to the cliff, the Ancient Dragon is about to corner the girl. It's basically herding her away further and further from her fallen weapon right in front of me. Of which looks like some type of gun?

Well, I have two options here: Run and pretend I never saw this or try to save her and die.

The possibility of me dying here if I go help is a certain 99% chance. I've never tried fighting anything big even, in top condition. I know all too well that a human has little to no chance against an Ancient Dragon by themselves. Back then it'd take a total of twenty or so veteran hunters to kill even one of them without anyone getting hurt badly. Us humans just can't hope to compare at all to the Goddesses who are able to fight anything. We really do depend on the Goddesses. So what chance would I have against a Dragon, one of the most feared creatures of all time in human terms? I'm just a regular human after all. I have very little experience in actual fighting. Aside from the short sword training camp I attended, some time out in the field, I have no real experience in the art of fighting. Especially with this injury to my leg, what chance do I have against one of the most feared creatures in Gamindustri?

With all these thoughts in my mind, an overwhelming feeling of fear grips my heart. It's with this feeling that I feel my feet start to move aw-

"KYAAAA!"

Well that was a nice few second of losing myself. With her plea of help I put all my reservations behind me. No matter how much of me is telling me not to preserve my own life, leaving her to die would downright make me worse than any other evil existence.

With this resolve in mind I made this my goal: Save her.

* * *

Today was like any other day since the young girl was born. Wake up early, make breakfast for her sister, and work until the wee hours of dusk. This was a routine she had adopted in order to prove herself to her sister. Although said sister wouldn't acknowledge her much, but she knew that's how it'd be since she was born. Her big sister made it clear with her rather strange introduction, but she was still the big sister she looked up to.

But even with the amount of effort she was putting in to get any form fo acknowledgement from her big sister, it never worked out. Her sister would turn red and stutter out how she expected more from her. Even with the extra effort she put in to help rebuild Lastation, it never amounted to anything from her big sister.

So she changed the routine.

This day she decided to wake up much earlier to get a head start on her paperwork. Once it got close for breakfast time she carried out the last task of preparing breakfast and eating quickly to finish the last of her work for the day in time. With the now extended free time she had now, she made a hastily made up excuse to go out to her sister and went to the guild.

This isn't her first quest or anything, she had gone out with her sister before to complete one. So she wasn't a stranger to the danger quests had. With the experience she had gained and working with her sister on her skills, she had been wanting to go on a small solo quest for quite some time. Problem being, her sister wouldn't let her. No matter what the young girl would say or do, her sister wouldn't budge. Whether it was from thinking she was incompetent, inexperienced, or whatever. Her sister wouldn't give her an answer either. The only answer she would get was a fierce blush, a lot of stuttering, and a large amount of rejection from her sister. So seeing that her sister would never see her way, she decided to take her own action.

The quest she had picked up was a bunch of hunt quests and had been going well so far. She had completed all but one of them, this final one was to defeat the Ancient Dragon that has been causing trouble lately. If she could beat such a strong foe by herself, her sister would **HAVE** to acknowledge her strength then.

All this was going through the young girl's head until now. Because she was running now. Away from the Ancient Dragon that is currently chasing her to the convenient placed nearby cliff. Things went south rather quickly. Maybe her sister was right about some things.

The fight had started well. She got a "Symbol Attack" on the dragon and started off nicely. The fight was going extremely well for her. The first few blasts were able to damage the dragon greatly and she was sure that she'd beat the dragon in time before dinner.

That was until the dragon knocked her gun away. That was when she had to let out a scream.

With her weapon gone and slowly running out of space between her and the dragon, it wasn't looking good. The young girl could feel a strong sense of fear overcame her as she got near the cliff. She let out another scream in the vain hope that someone would hear her, but she knew that no one else would hear her. She knew this one simple fact now that all this had occurred: She was going to die.

She didn't want to die! She just wanted to make her big sister proud of her! To see that she was worthy of being her sister's little sister and surpass all the expectations she had on her.

But…..now…..

As she reached the edge of the cliff, she knew it was over now but even so...even so!…..She wouldn't take this lying down!

With the best glare she could make up, she stared down Ancient Dragon as it got closer. There was only one thing she had to say as she stared down the dragon that was lifting its claw to end her:

"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough big sis."

And down came the cl- (I got interrupted…)

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

She had blinked but now there was someone in front of her blocking the dragon's claw with their sword. Said person looked to be in their late teens. Blue spiky hair that was just long enough to cover part of his forehead, pale complexion, a height of around 5.5Ft. He wore a black and blue open coat that's lightly armored throughout. All to end with a simple plain white shirt and black combat pants.

Said someone turned to her with resolved black eyes and clenched teeth, clearly showing the strain it toke in holding the claw back.

"Run! Now! I can only hold it back for so long!" said the blue haired youth.

Stunned by the sudden development, the young girl simply stared at her unexpected savior as he withstood the full brunt of the Ancient Dragon's attack.

"What are you waiting for!? Get outta here, I'll hold it off!" he said as he made a grunt of effort and pushed the giant claw away. Taking this as her que, she quickly started making her way towards her fallen weapon.

….Only for upon arrival to her weapon, the monster's began to respawn around her.

'Oh for the love of!' the young girl thought as she began to fight off the monsters.

'I hope he can hold the dragon off long enough…..' she worriedly thought as she stole a glance at her savior.

* * *

'I'm totally going to die' was the first thought going through my mind. I was hoping by distracting the dragon, the girl would be able to get her weapon and help me fight it. With their different ranges of attack, they'd be able to easily take the Ancient Dragon. Most likely. Hopefully. Maybe with an injury or two. Of course his injured leg was already causing him problems (especially having ran the distance to stop the dragon from killing her) but he'd be able to power through the pain for a time. Also it surprisingly wasn't that hard to block the claw. Not to say it was easy though. Definitely wasn't easy.

That all went through the window when the monsters respawned.

With his companion now distracted with the admittedly weak monsters (a distraction that could prove fatal though), he is left all alone with the Ancient Dragon…..of whom didn't look very happy at the moment.

Apparently blocking/knocking its claw away made it very upset, as it was just staring at him…or it was just waiting its turn? Who knows? Gamindustri sometimes felt like some sort of RPG.

For now, he knew three things: 1. His leg hurt like hell, 2. That dragon was looking to use his turn right about now and 3. Today is turning out to be a bad day.

As the dragon was getting ready to bring down its massive claw down again, he got ready to make a quick dodge and slice.

*SLASH*

*DASH*

*SLICE! *

*GWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR! *

'ACK!' Obviously his leg wasn't going to keep up for very long. It just hurt so much with all the extra pressure he's recently put on it. He could feel the stitches starting to loosen already…!

*ROOOOOOOAR! *

*SWIPE*

It launched another attack, much quicker this, and landed a hit on me. It was a small gash on my side, didn't go through much thanks to me reacting fast enough…but for such an attack for my coat barely to defend against it…

It's often said a battle can be determined in just the first few moves. This situation is truly a testament to that. From having to dodge so suddenly I can feel my injured leg already oozing blood from its wound. I'm losing a lot of blood already. Not to mention the cliff is awfully close now…..

I can feel my vision get murky for a second.

Stealing a glance towards the girl, I can see she's already freed herself of the recently spawned monsters and is heading towards me.

Well, time to execute the plan B.

The dragon readies another attack, I wait and prepare myself for what is to come. Hopefully it goes the way I want. And…the claw comes down.

Taking this as my signal, I quickly ran past the claw and slashed its leg, to then stabbing my sword directly into its chest. Obviously it didn't take this very happily and promptly grabbed me. It raised me to its face and stared at me with its bright red eyes. Its grip is so tight; I can feel the oxygen leaving my body quickly. I can see the girl from here and I can see the horror written on her face as she stared on.

"RUN! NOW!" I yelled at her with what little breath I had left.

With a humph, the dragon threw me into the nearby rock wall like a rag doll.

*SMASH* *CRACK*

I'm not entirely sure what broke, but all I feel is pain. My previously injured (now even more injured) leg is now burning with pain, my left arm has no feeling, my head is spinning, and I feel cold. I can just feel the blood leaving me as the cold agony of dying sets in.

'Guess this is where it ends… it was a good run…. hopefully she makes it out. It's funny, I don't even know what she looks like.' I thought as I watch the Ancient Dragon get closer.

I can't do anything, moving is impossible and I suddenly feel so exhausted.

'I just hope no one misses me too badly…..' is my final thought as the dragon readies its claws again and I finally lose consciousness.

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 **A/N: Hello! Well first, thank you for reading. I've been mostly a reader but I've always wanted to write a story and so here I am! Hopefully any of you will join me for the ride. In terms of an update schedule, I'm a little unsure as school will begin soon and college is a jerk. Also work and all that, but I will try to update at least once a week. If anything comes up I will put an update on my profile, so check that out! So anyway hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and have a good day/night wherever you are!**

 **Also shout-out to ChangeHeart for reaching 100 chapters on his story: "Colors of Darkness". He finally is going to reach it today and it has been quite the joy! Hopefully some of you will check it out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

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Death has been a concept I've always thought about since I started my career as a hunter. Each and every time I went out and swung my sword and cleaved through anything. Every time I got hurt or came back exhausted. I always thought about it, the end. I had always thought I'd find myself surrounded by monsters and fighting with all I had to escape alive. That's how I imagined my end would be (if it came), and in fact it, almost did a few times.

Of course life never goes the way you think it would.

Admittedly, the way I did go out is rather satisfying anyway. You don't get the chance to save a person really (usually because saving that person leads to your death) in life as a human. Typically, only once does such an event happen and it's usually a rewarding experience. Saving a girl, the future of Lastation, it's a good way to die….

If I was actually dead. As the constant beeping makes me quite aware that I'm not.

I'm not sure what's going on as I still have my eyes closed and am suffering a large amount of pain. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness is seeing the Ancient Dragon preparing for the final attack on me and large amounts of pain with possibly destroyed body parts. Oh and the blood, lots of blood.

Taking this chance to survey the damage, I first try to move my body parts. Arms? Check. Legs? Check. Hands and feet? Check.

Looks like everything is in working order and more importantly, attached! I'm really surprised considering the damage I toke and how some of my bones felt before. Well, Lastation is the most advanced nation, seconded by Planeptune. Must have been some new technology that helped heal me to such a level.

With that, I open my eyes…and face the horrible brightness!

Ack! Seriously this is way too bright! Someone turn it down please!

* * *

"Well, I have to be one lucky guy" I say as I gloss over myself. After getting used to the lighting (and panicking), I can see that I'm not in a full body cast or anything. Literally everything is in place. I expected to be horribly dismantled somewhere even after testing myself, but I guess the Goddess deemed me to live a normal life.

With the most pressing things checked out I survey the hospital room I'm currently in. I'm all by myself here, which is concerning. Usually hospitals have patients share, but this room is obviously meant for one person. I was given a private room it would seem. This is a little concerning as private rooms are meant for the wealthier. It has the typical dark colors and steampunk theme that Lastation has. Aside from the beautiful window side to look out from and big TV, this is your standard hospital room.

"Now the biggest question is how am I alive?" I ask myself as I lay back down with my arms crossed.

Really, aside from a minimal amount of pain I feel throughout my body I'm perfectly fine. Last I remembered in my near death state was a lot of pain and many things not being in the right place anymore. Of course there is what happened to the Ancient Dragon. Did she manage to kill it by herself? Did she die? Did someone else come and save us? It'd be hard to believe someone else coming out there, as West Wind Valley is pretty far out. So many questions as to what occurred but there is one thing I can be completely sure of.

I'm **alive**. With the condition I last remember being in, it must mean that everything turned out okay. The girl is likely alive and somehow, someway, everything turned out okay.

Now to acknowledge the elephant in the room that is to my left.

There, being shined upon by the sun is a woman with long blue chest length hair with her head resting on my leg. She has a light blue blouse on with a simple pair of black jeans on.

Suddenly, I feel a surge of guilt and fear go through me. Looking at her I can see that she hasn't been taking care of herself. Her normally straight hair with some sort of random style in it isn't there. Instead it's all frazzled, she has bags under her eyes and appears thinner from when I last saw her.

Ever since the Avenir incident and the " **event"** she had become increasingly protective of me. She'd be like a mother bear, fiercely protecting her cub against any sort of danger no matter how small it was. Although there was a big result in this. This result being that she wouldn't take care of herself very well. Of course she was against me becoming a hunter but I had my reasons beyond supporting Lastation. But….one blaring question suddenly formed in my head. With the appearance she currently has, it's obvious this state of hers has been going on for quite some time and so the question is….

How **long** have I been out?

With this realization I had suddenly sat up, but this sudden motion seems to have caused her to rouse from her slumber. I'm a little scared as she slowly sits up and rubs her eyes before groggily looking at me. The effects of seeing me awake are instantaneous. She immediately jolts straight up and regards me with wide, unblinking eyes. Before I know it she's standing up and slowly approaches me. Her entire body is shaking and the corners of her blue eyes begin to tear as she lifts a shaky hand to my cheek.

"A-Adam?" she says in such a terrified small voice that breaks my heart.

I grab her arm and slowly bring her into a comforting hug.

"Sorry for making you so scared Mom." I reply to her in an equally small voice as I rub circles on her back. I can't ever truly be sorry enough for causing her such pain again. So this is this is the best I can do for now. With that she slowly breaks out into a painful sob.

* * *

After some time, she's calmed down and is sitting back in her chair as she keeps careful watch on me. Her gaze is that of many emotions that I wouldn't be able to name any. In fact, there is so much raw emotion in it that it reminds of the first time they were like this. Except this time, **I** caused it and it's much worse now.

"I've been with you. The entire time you've been here. It's been nearly a month now you know?" she suddenly began with a hollow voice.

At the word "month" my blood went cold. For so long….

"You were quite the terrifying sight to see. Blood all over, broken arms, broken legs, multiple gashes, shattered ribs and even more. You can imagine as to how I reacted when I got the call and they described your condition to me. I r-rushed over so fast that I completely forgot what I was doing beforehand. The description did no good to how you really were. "she had started letting out more tears that lead to sobs while she spoke. For a time, we just sit here as she silently lets out her emotions. I can only sit here as she lets out her pent up emotions, after all this is my fault.

"*Sob*…. T-they had to work nearly an entire week endlessly on you. It was such a terrifying week. Every day it'd be something new. On the first day you were just silent. Only the slightest shred of a heartbeat could be found. It stopped twice that day. "I immediately placed my hand where my heart is at that. Even though I I'm clearly alive…..to think I died twice. My mother toke quick notice of this and slowly toke my hand off of it while giving me a smile. Although I must have caused her so much pain, she can still be so caring.

"The second day wasn't much better. They had been working into the next day and you started to convulse randomly "she began again once I had calmed down.

"They spent nearly the entire morning into afternoon just trying to get you into a stable situation. Your convulsions even caused you to nearly choke on your own blood. They had so many people around you, just t-trying to keep you alive. It was *sob* horr- *sniff* horrible." Hearing all this and seeing my mother cry even harder just from the memory…I feel so horrible and terrified. I can only imagine how she felt while all this happened in front of her.

Although, one question began to form in the middle of her telling me all this. How did I go from that state to this? I look and feel as if nothing ever happened…. but of out of respect for my mother, I decide to hold this question for now.

"Since you started to convulse, they had a team around you on the clock. Just to make sure nothing happened to you as they got ready for the… next day." The way she paused there, this won't be good.

"Then on the third day, when they finally had you stable enough they tried to fix the internal damage and return your dislocated bones back into place. I wish they didn't because you let out such horrid s-screams. G-goddess, the screams you let out as they were working on you. I-it was so p-p-painful to h-hear *sob*. The w-worst part yet was they couldn't even sedate you fully. Sedating you would be too much on your already weak body, so they just had to keep operating on you as you screamed. "At this point my mother had just stopped crying. The tears were all gone but she kept talking.

"From those three days they sat me down and told me you'd never live a normal life again **if** you left the hospital. They couldn't even tell me you'd leave confidently. There was just so **much wrong** with you. Failing kidney, punctured lung, cranial damage, and the list goes on. On the first day of the second week, things were going well. You were calm as they did more operations and examinations on you but… Halfway through the day you started to convulse again and with it they found something else." From the tone of her voice, it wasn't good.

"That leg injury you got from that spider long ago now. The poison from it, actually wasn't as harmless as we thought. It was actually a very deadly poison that slowly kills its victim. Usually it can be treated easily the second it's found but with the state you were in and that it had already worked up pretty far in your system…" She trailed off here as the obvious conclusion had been made. I should be _**dead**_.

"Only with a special operation could save you. It would safely remove the poison from the affected areas and fix your damaged organs as well. Problem is that it costed a lot of credits. Also with this being a relatively new practice, it wasn't guaranteed to work. You know we don't have that kind of money. After all, one of the reasons you became a hunter was to help provide." She gave a light smile at that but then her face suddenly contorted in raw anger.

"That's when _she_ came in." She suddenly said with cold anger. I know exactly who is talking about, she never liked _her_.

"She has been visiting you every day since it happened. At first _she_ would only stand by and watch it all. I didn't pay her any mind with you in the state that you were in but, when they told me of the poison and the operation. _She_ stepped up to me immediately offered me to pay the whole thing. I thought for once _she_ could actually do something out of good will. Without something in return, but then she said the second part. She'd pay for it all but only _in exchange for you_. Even when you were on your death bed that **bitch** still had _**that**_ on her mind. I automatically said no, but then she gave me her contact information and went off. Makes you really think what is going on in her head." She said with such anger and grief. I'm not surprised that _she_ would do that. Always was the type to get something out of anything, but my mom's tone at the end….

"After two more days later, you got so much worse. You'd gone pale and puked up multiple times even. Undone some stitches and reopened old wounds with many of the convulsions you'd have. I was getting so **desperate**. I was going to take her up on her offer. You were so broken, and I was so scared of losing you too Adam." With that painful admission, I broke into a cold sweat of fear.

"Mom don't te- "

"But then _she_ came! The **Goddess**! Lady Black Heart! She came and somehow saved you! No operation at all! She somehow healed you and from there you gradually recovered! It was so incredible, she **just** came in when I was about to contact _her_ and walked into your room with such determination in her. Then when she was done, she came out and walked right up to me. She told me you'd make it and that I didn't have to worry anymore in the most soothing voi. I almost instantly broke down and hugged her with my all. She just hugged me back as I said thank you over and over to her." Mom was crying tears of joy now. Her voice had gone from lost and defeated to the most elated I've ever heard from her.

I just sat there, completely shocked. The Goddess saved me? The Goddess of Lastation, Lady Black Heart. Saved. Me. To be honest, not much is known about the Goddesses besides that they are our protectors and basically give life to the land. Without them, us humans would be nothing. Yet, most of us don't even know what they look like in their human form or anything else. For her to save me when all was bleak and even allow my mother to hug her like that….

"It was incredible! You had gone from barely breathing to breathing just perfectly fine! It was as if nothing ever happened to you! Your entire body just started to come back. All the wounds and destroyed everything just went back to **normal!** With some instructions that the Lady gave to the hospital staff, you started to come back slowly but surely." My mom went on. I just sat there mostly in shock still, you could imagine a fly flying into my mouth with how shocked I was.

"But…" uh oh.

" **WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ADAM AOI**!?" She suddenly yelled out. I was honestly waiting for this part.

"I'm sorry mom, it's just that. Someone was in danger and I couldn't just leave them when I could do something, you know?"

"Even after I **told** you not to go out, with an injury still might I add and you still went out! Do you have any idea just how worried I was? Only for all this to happen! I was so scared and I swear my own heart stopped multiple times during all this! *sigh* But then again you did save the CPU Candidate…."

I just stared at her blankly.

"Umm, Adam, you do know who you saved. Right? You didn't just blindly run in with no concern whatsoever for yourself when you had an injury. Right? You didn't break one of the three rules I gave you. **Right!?** " She suddenly said with a cold, sweet tone of voice. All accompanied with a threatening smile.

"Uhh, well… *sigh* yea I did." There was no point in lying at this point. I expect more yelling or some form of physical puni-

"I'll excuse your mistake this one time since you saved the CPU Candidate, but please Adam. Be more careful, if not for yourself than for me?" My mom asked me in such a sad tone.

"Yea I'll try to be more careful with my life. Sorry to have made you go through so much."

"It's okay dear, just try not to make me sprout grey hairs yet. Okay?"

I nod back to her and we slowly embrace.

"Mom as much as I'd like to keep talking. Could I have some time? This was a lot to be told when I just woke up you know."

"Oh! Of course dear. I'm so sorry to have tossed all of this on you the second you woke up. It's just so been so crazy, I just couldn't help myself." We break apart and she makes her way to the door.

"If you need anything, just hit the button on that desk next to you. Also, I love you Adam." She says with a smile and swiftly leaves the room.

"Love you too mom." I say to the empty air and lay back down.

So…. I nearly died and the only reason I'm still alive and well, with my freedom is thanks to Lady Black Heart. I also unknowingly saved the CPU Candidate, and caused my mom great grief.

"And I still don't know what the date is…." I murmur to myself as I pass out from the shocking revelations I just had revealed to me. Sleep is always a good way to process stuff after all.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes chapter 2! Hope you all enjoyed this, I had a blast writing!**

 **I'd like to thank you all for the support so far. Little unexpected but very much appreciated.**

 **If any of you have a question of any type, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer you.**

 **Hope to see you all next chapter :3.**

 **Have a good day/night and weekend!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

Sleep is by far the healthiest thing you can ever do in life. It rejuvenates the body, stores memory, grows muscle, and so much more. As such, sleep is by far the best medicine for anything. In fact, everyone does it. No matter who or what you are, everyone sleeps in some form. Although you shouldn't do this too much as too much of anything is bad no matter what. Remember that lazy people! Although, that **COULD** just be me being a citizen of Lastation. Living here, you tend to not sleep that much.

But yea, this little nap I toke really gave me the chance to sort my mind out with all the information my mother gave me recently.

I'm alive thanks to Lady Black Heart.

 _She_ is still trying to take me.

I worried my mother endlessly and nearly caused her poor heart to stop a few times. (Side note, make sure she takes care of herself again.)

I unknowingly saved the CPU Candidate. I wonder if this makes me a national hero now...

And five, I still don't know what date it is. My mother said a month nearly passed and last I remembered it was a Monday of the first day of the month. So… maybe around the 29th? That's my best guess for now really. Meh, I'll find out soon enough. Now to deal with this person who's muttering and pacing around randomly in my room.

Finally opening my eyes, I can see a young girl by the window pacing back and forth while muttering something. She is quite adorable looking actually. She's light skinned with long black hair done up into pigtails, which is held by two ribbons. A pair of dark red eyes (cool color, wonder if it's natural). She's wearing a black dress with a rather… interesting design on it. It consists of a sort of belt/bow (thing?) that reaches midway to her stomach, a phone thingy case is attached to one of the belt's side. A pair of fingerless gloves with short boots to boot (heh, puns). All of this is finished off with light blue lining all over with this weird circle thingy connecting the whole thing. Truly, this is one of the most complicated dresses I've ever seen and that's saying something considering I've been involved with _her_. Some of the stuff she's worn blows me away, but this? It takes the cake.

As of now she's just pacing back and forth pushing her pointer fingers into each other. I can barely tell what she's muttering, but I can hear some things like "better wake up soon," and something about paying back. Obviously she's to absorbed in her thoughts to notice that I'm awake. Although my question right now is; who is this girl? My mother never told me about anyone visiting me besides _her_ and Lady Black Heart when she saved me. So, I didn't expect anyone else to ever visit. I'm not exactly a known person in Lastation as far as I remember. Also the fact that I don't recognize her at all doesn't help. At least… I think I don't recognize her? I'm sure I'd remember someone who stands out as much as her. Her whole…. Being kinda would be hard to ignore. Maybe in passing I've seen her? I do get this sensation that I've seen her before.

"Ah!" a rather loud exclamation bought me out of my little stupor. Turning towards the direction of which the exclamation came from, the red-eyed girl is now pointing at me with a startled expression and a gaping mouth. She looks like she'd seen a ghost with the expression she has on her face. I mostly hope she closes her mouth though, who knows what's around here? Even hospitals aren't the cleanest ever. But more importantly.

Was it really that hard to believe that I'm awake? Well I suppose it's natural since I've been supposedly out for a month in a compromising situation. Maybe she has been visiting and my mother just didn't notice her through the grief? A plausible story that would explain her reaction and lack of knowledge of her. From what my mother told me of my condition, I'd be quite worried about myself as well.

"Y-y-y-y-your awake!" She says in her stuttering voice.

"Yea I am." Such a weak reply

She just stands there with her finger still pointing at me and gaping mouth still intact. Is she going to stay like that? Shes literally just been standing there like a statue. I guess I'll start off the conversation then.

"Well, umm, I'm not quite sure who you are but thank you for visiting me for however long you have been. The name is Adam Aoi, but you probably already know that." I say to her to hopefully break the ice. Don't wanna sit here and have her point at me all day now. It was getting awkward, I'm also getting kinda hungry and I wanna know the date already.

My little introduction/thanks seems to have finally snapped her out of her own stupor, as she immediately turns red from embarrassment. She's now just sorta standing there now. She finally closed her mouth and put her finger down is now fidgeting quite a bit while looking down. Guess I have to play the waiting game now.

"…m…..i….you." She literally just mumbled something out after a few minutes and I have no idea what she just said. I'm not quite sure why she's acting like this. Maybe I look really ugly or something right now. It's true I haven't gotten a chance to look at myself but I'm sure my mom would have told me if I was horribly disfigured or something now…. Right?

"Sorry, could you repeat that? Take a deep breath or two if you need to. I don't have anywhere important to be for now, so take your time okay?" I say to hopefully calm her down and get this conversation going.

She blinks, and takes my advice in breathing in. After she does, she looks notably much calmer now. She finally looks me in the eye an-

"MYNAMEISUNIANDTHANKYOUFORSAVINGME!" All for her to say it all in one breath in a really loud voice. That sorta hurt my ears too but at least I got her name. I think.

"Uni, is it?"

She nods.

Oh thank goodness. That would have been **really** awkward if I got that wrong.

"Alright Uni, now what did you say after your name? You said it too fast for me."

She starts to fidget again but not as badly as before.

"I-i-i s-said…..t-thank you." she finished off shyly.

Although what she said came out so incredibly small, I could barely still hear it. Now there can be a lot of things someone can say "thank you" for but for Uni here, there can only be one reason that she's saying that to me. Besides the fact she now looks sorta familiar after looking at her long enough.

Standing in front of me, must be the one and only CPU Candidate of my nation that I unknowingly saved.

Well this is truly unexpected for my second awakening. I, like a lot of people, haven't actually seen the CPU Candidate before. We all know of her existence, but haven't seen her as of yet. No one knows why exactly she hasn't shown herself publicly but maybe she's just shy? She was born not too long ago now, and likely is receiving some sort of training from her sister? I don't know the process of raising a CPU Candidate, so I can't exactly say anything.

"Ah. Well I'm just happy to see that we're both alive and well."

"But you got hurt…. b-because of m-me."

"Hey, I made the choice to put my neck on the line you know? Also, I could have played it differently than I did to avoid all this from the start. So don't go blaming yourself for something you had no part in, okay?"

You know, I never thought that **IF** I did ever get the chance to meet any of the CPUs, that my first conversation would go something like this. Although a good portion of what I said was a lie, as there was literally nothing I could have done differently for a more favorable outcome. I, myself was prepared for the consequences of my actions. As long as she made it out alive, I was okay with my end. I couldn't have resisted the urge to help her even if I wanted to but I have no regrets in following my instincts. She shouldn't feel responsible for the actions that I toke.

She jumps a little at my answer, but she starts to look relieved and gives off a small smile.

Surely seeing the consequences of my actions must have been hard for her. After all, she got into trouble by fighting the Ancient Dragon in the first place, so I can understand why she'd blame herself. Who knows how much guilt she may have formed in herself after seeing my condition. It is a little surreal to be honest. Seeing the CPU Candidate is the one I saved, seeing her so guilty over it, and me being alive to tell her it's not her fault. Not something I'd thought I would ever do.

"So, Lady Uni. Have you been coming to visit me often?" I just have to ask. It's not every day that you have a Goddess worried about you.

"….Y-yea I have but it's not like I was w-worried about you or anything!" ….Wait what? Don't tell me…. Could she? Nah. She's literally a Goddess. I must be hearing things. I did just wake up after a month apparently. Yup, totally hearing things.

"Well, thank you for being so concerned about me Lady Uni. It means a lot to hear that you visited me, even though you must be very busy with rebuilding Lastation." She starts to blush a little at that and looks down again.

"W-well we have been busy but I couldn't just leave you after you saved me. I'd be a real screw-up then."

"Hey, like I said, don't be so harsh on yourself. We both made decisions that day that led up to what happen. We can only move forward from it now you know? So don't go calling yourself a screw-up for nothing. Okay?" I say in the hopes of calming her guilt down. Really, she shouldn't be burdening herself so much for this. We both made it out fine, which at the end of the day is the most important thing.

We lock eye contact at that, her with an expression of shock/surprise and mine of calm. I'm honestly not calm at all, I'm incredibly nervous about overstepping my boundaries here. She is the CPU Candidate of my home. Her sister being the CPU, but it's not like Lady Black Heart is mean or anything. Since Lady Black Heart came down from Celestia, she's been nothing but kind and hard working for us. Even when we didn't have much faith in her. I wouldn't want to disrespect her little sister after everything she's done to us and after all, her sister has been trying her hardest since she was born. Hopefully anything I said wasn't too much.

"Your right. We both made choices, and we can only keep going. Hehe, that's funny, both you and my sister said something similar." And just like that she gives me quite the smile. It's an innocent smile that matches her well.

"So, I think we should reintroduce ourselves again. As our first one wasn't the best. Here I-."

"Wait no! Let me go first, I kinda messed up the first time, so it's only right."

Well, how about that now.

"Yea, sure go ahead." She clears her throat and begins.

"My name is Uni, the CPU Candidate of Lastation and you better not forget it!" she says in a voice full of pride and confidence, of which is complimented with a flick of one of her pigtails, into putting her hands on her hips. I…. still don't want to believe it. I'm gonna give her another chance.

"I don't think I could forget my CPU Candidate, but anyway. My name is Adam Aoi, a resident of Lastation. It's nice to finally meet you Lady Uni." I finish off with a slight bow, gotta show respect after all.

"Hmph, well Adam. I gotta go now. I promised my sister I wouldn't be out for too long, and she'll start to worry if I don't get back soon. But before I go...Ah! Here it is. Take this." After rummaging around a little in her dress, she magically hands me a small PDA. I mean literally magically; I have no idea where this came from and she doesn't have anywhere visible that it would come from. A women's dress is truly complicated.

"What's this for?" Obvious question is obvious.

"It's an invitation. My sister told me that if you really were awake, to give this to you. It's an invitation to the Basilicom for a dinner. All you have to do is turn it on and show it to the guards when you come. I-it's not like I care if you come, but we'd like to show our gratitude to you."

"Ah, then I'll be sure to come once I'm given the OK to leave. But when will it be okay to come? I'm not sure when they'll let me out."

"There's a n-number on the PDA. Call that number a day before you come." She turned a little red at the mention of the number. Little weird but okay, at least this gives me plenty of time to get ready.

I nod, telling her I'll call and she begins to take her leave.

"T-thank you again for saving me, Adam." She says with another pleasant smile and leaves.

So, I've met the CPU Candidate, had a decent conversation with her (albeit was a little bumpy at first), and got invited to the Basilicom for dinner.

"Life is just full of surprises. Never expected any of this to ever happen." I say to myself as I look out the window. The view here is really nice. You can see a nice view of Lastation from my bed. It looks around maybe 4PM with the way the sun is located in the sky. Although, I'm not too sure.

"And she really is a tsundere. Never would have thought the CPU Candidate would be like that. Makes me wonder how Lady Black Heart is."

* * *

"Adam?" a voice softly asks from outside my room.

"I'm awake. Come in."

My mom comes in with my urging, and she looks visibly happier and better might I add. With my recovery, she probably finally ate a proper meal or something.

"I have some good news Adam. They are gonna give you a check-up today and tomorrow. If you show good signs today and tomorrow, they'll let you out!" You could practically smell the excitement coming off of her with just how happy she is. I really worried her.

"That's great mom. I'm uh, sorry again. For making you go through so much over me."

"It's alright Adam, I'm ju- *sigh* I'm just so happy that you came out alive. We really have to thank Lady Black Heart."

"About that, the CPU Candidate; Lady Uni came by and invited me to the Basilicom to show their gratitude."

My mom just stood there silently for a second. She's probably process-

"REALLY!? OHMYGOSHMYBOYISGONNAMEETTHEGODDESS*SQUEAL*!"

She suddenly gushed out and did I hear a squeal in that? I'm gonna try to ignore that she made that sound. While she may still be young for an adult, it doesn't mean my poor mind can accept that sort of sound coming from my mother.

She calmed down and I showed her the PDA. I explained to her what Lady Uni and me talked about and gave her my best description of her. I omitted the tsundere part though, not sure how my mom would react to that piece of info.

"Well, do you have an outfit for this sort of thing Adam? Last time I checked, you don't have a large selection of clothing."

"I'll go out shopping once I settle down from being released. So probably a day after of being released I'll go shopping."

"Alright, that sounds good. I'm gonna go home to get some rest. As you've probably noticed, I haven't been taking care of myself recently."

"Yea I've noticed. You go. I'll be fine now, okay?"

She nods, gives me a quick hug and begins her leave.

"The doctors will be in soon to take their first test. So stay awake until then, okay?"

"Gotcha."

"Okay, take care."

And with that shes gone…..and I still don't know the da- ah forget it. I'll figure it out at some point.

* * *

 **A/N: Little late on this update, busy week for me :D. So college starts for me this Monday, but I'll stand by my promise of at least a chapter a week.**

 **If anything changes I'll leave an update on my profile.**

 **Thank you all for reading. Things will get even more interesting soon.**

 **Hope you all enjoy the chapter, have a good day/night all!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

"So am I okay?"

"Yes, Mr. Aoi you check out completely fine. The Goddess really pulled you out of death's gates. It's as if nothing happened to you in the first place, although she looked extremely exhausted afterwards. Makes me worried just what she did to you."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, she stumbled when she first left your room but after that she didn't show any other signs of what she possibly did. The room wasn't moved around at all so she must have used something on her person to heal, although we can't be entirely sure. But a rumor has popped up that she's been taking a bit of a break towards her duties. So you can imagine the possible effects of what she did to you are having on her."

"I see...Thank you for telling me."

"No problem, now go on. Someone is waiting for you in the main lobby. Make sure you come back if you feel anything wrong, we're still a little unsure as to the extent of the healing."

"Will do Doc."

I just received the results from both exams that I've gone through the past two days and I'm making my way downstairs. It was mostly just exercise, x-rays, and generally testing how I felt.

Absolutely nothing is wrong with me. Lady Black Heart's healing really saved me completely. Although, hearing how exhausted she was after whatever she did, is troubling. I wonder just what she did to heal me. Even though we worship the Goddesses, we aren't entirely sure of what they can do. Besides the Hard Drive Divinity transformation that is. So we really don't know the extend of the Goddesses power, but apparently it can extend to healing. If I was treated normally, who knows just what could have happened to me? Maybe some parts of me wouldn't even be usable, I'd hate not being able to use both my legs or some part of my body. I guess I can use this dinner invitation as a way to also thank Lady Black Heart. Even if it was because I saved her sister, I hav- no. I **want** to show my gratitude towards her. Not just for saving my life but for bringing my home back together. Like I said before, Lastation is still rebuilding but at the rate it's going, Lastation is going to be better than ever. It's all thanks to Lady Black Heart that this is possible.

These were my thoughts as I descended the stairs towards the main lobby of the hospital. I didn't even notice it all go by, but sure enough I made it to the main lobby already. Although….. I don't see my mom here. Maybe she went to the bathroom? I'll just go sign myself out, maybe by then she'll be back.

I approached the front desk with a greeting and the assistants quickly got me the required paperwork to release me quickly. After some signing and a reminder to come by again if I felt off in anyway, and I'm all set and ready to go. Saying my thanks, I move towards the waiting area for a seat and patiently wai-.

*tap*

Only for me to be immiedetly tapped as I sat down. Guess my mom finished whatever business she had quicker than I thought.

"Hey mo-"

The color immediately drains from my face the second I turn around. I expected to see my mother here. A young adult with blue hair, blue eyes, slightly shorter than me, and normal clothing. The women who birthed and raised me along with my father. The women who would drop anything for me.

Instead what greets me is a girl roughly my age and height. She has long blonde hair that reaches her chest and form bangs on her forehead. She has green eyes, and lightly tanner complexion than me. She typically wears ungodly complicated dresses but this time she is wearing a fairly simple yellow dress with a small purple jacket on top of her and flats. This is really simple for her, as she typically wears really complicated outfits but…. Ah, I see now. That's the one I got her that _time_. Now why in the name of the Goddess is she here? I hope it won't lead to what I think it will.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, not happy to see me?"

"… I haven't been that happy to see you since school ended. You know this." Is my response, after getting over the initial shock. It's not if as if I'm always unhappy seeing her, it's just now…. I don't know exactly know what to feel about her. She changed a lot over those two years in school and even more so after it.

"Well, that doesn't matter now. Come, we need to talk."

"Can we do this another time? I just got released from the hospital and I'd like to go home first."

"No, this is the best chance we have to talk."

"You already know my answer. We've had this conversation multiple times now. What's gonna be different?"

"Please Adam." that pleading voice, don't do it!

"Kasumi…."

" **Please**."

Gosh she can be such a pain when she gets like this. It's hard enough telling her no to the _question_ in the first place over and over. Ever since she first started to ask, I've always somewhat dreaded being around her. It's funny how such a simple question can drastically change how you feel about a person. I know changes must happen in life, but for this sort of thing...

Well, she usually isn't this adamant about this normally. Maybe it's something different for once? Even if it's the same reason I can't say no to her anyway. *Internal sigh* Promises are so hard to keep you know? Especially when they strain on you as much as this one has with her.

"Fine, let's go. Lead the way."

With my relent, she sports a huge smile and quickly tugs me out of my chair. I hope my arm can survive this torture.

"Great! Let's go to this café nearby. I heard it's really good!" God she's pulling hard! Make it stop!

"Hey wait! Not so rough Kasumi! I just got out of the hospital. Take it easy, I'm still not sure to the extent of Lady Black Heart's healing."

The second I finished my sentence we immediately stopped. We just stand here as she faces away from me and tightening the grip she has on my arm. I hope this doesn't last long, she was already pulling my arm out of it's socket in the few seconds that she pulled me. I'd like to keep the arm that Lady Black Heart healed.

"Hey uh, why'd we stop moving?"

"I…s…..do it" she mumbled out. I have an idea as to why we stopped when I finished my sentence. To really be upset about that? She really can be so selfish sometimes. I just hope that isn't the reason she's upset and adamant about talking. Although that wouldn't be the Kasumi I've known if she **didn't** get upset by this sort of thing.

I hear her breath in and out heavily. Slowly but surely, her grip on my arm lessens in its intensity and I can feel my blood course through my arm again. She must be really upset for this sort of reaction. I don't hear that heavy breathing thing of hers too often, as she only does it to calm herself down when she's really upset. Something I learned I don't want to be around if she does that, doesn't lead to good things for me.

"Let's just go to the café for now. Okay?" She said to me as she turned around to face me slightly. I only nod and we make our way out of the hospital.

* * *

Lastation is quite beautiful, even with it in a state of rebuilding this nation truly shines to me. Of course what truly make a nation a nation is the people. The people who are always working hard, the friendly atmosphere you can fell, and making constant advances. The people who are the heart of Lastation.

Are also the people that are giving me and Kasumi strange looks. They are all just staring at us as we make our way to the café that I'm being led to. One would naturally assume two people of the opposite sex walking together in an intimate position are together. This is normally a correct assumption as no one would willingly be this close to someone, but this isn't the case.

"Would it kill em to at least not make it so obvious?" I hear Kasumi grumble lightly.

All of them are staring at her bright gold blonde hair.

Honestly she shouldn't be surprised anymore. She's been stared at since the day she came to Lastation because of her hair. Her blonde hair isn't exactly natural around here and considering the fact that she doesn't look like she's from Lastation doesn't help at all. Not to mention her personality isn't the nicest around, but that's understandable considering the background she's been around. You give what you take after all.

"Don't worry about it so much. This shouldn't be anything for you. Your Kasumi after all."

She doesn't verbally respond to me, but she does tighten her grip on my arm for a second. Message was received at least.

We soon arrive at a quaint looking café with a coffee sign on top of it. It's a lighter in colors than usual for Lastation. Instead of the usual black and grey metal theme that most buildings have, this is one of those stores that stray from it. It's instead made of wood (mahogany?) with lighter shades of the dark colors. I see why she'd like it. Kasumi always was attracted to light colors. We make our way in and are quickly seated. All the while the waiter is giving *that* look. Just because two people are together, doesn't mean that they are dating damn it!

"So, what is it you wanna talk about? You usually don't get that insistent." I say as I page through the menu. This menu actually has quite the selection. Sandwiches and some good selections of coffee. I think I'll just have a regular coffee this time though, don't wanna make the bill too high since I'm not sure who's paying. Don't have too many credits on me now.

"...Let's enjoy this little meal first before we talk about that."

I nod and we continue the evening.

* * *

It's been around 30 minutes now. We ate, drank, and had some small talk. Although I didn't have much to say since I just got out of the hospital and Kasumi wants to avoid the subject for now. As such she's the one that's been doing the majority of the talking. Which is just fine since I do want to catch up on what's been happening in Lastation since I've been out.

From what I've learned, no one really knows what happened to me and who I saved. Everything continues in Lastation as per the norm. Which I'm actually glad for. I never did like having a massive amount of attention on me. Even though being recognized as a national hero would be cool and all, it's not something I want. I did what I did for selfish reasons after all. Not all good deeds are selfless acts. Now as much as I do like being around Kasumi, I'd like to go home and prepare for the dinner at the Basilicom. I'm sure the Goddess wouldn't appreciate me being late, even though there is no set time.

*ahem* "So Kasumi, shouldn't we get to the main point here, as much as I enjoy this, I'd like get home before my mom comes hunting for me." Don't think telling her about the invitation would be a good diea.

At the mention of my mother Kasumi tenses a little. *Sigh* These two….

"Yea, we should. I don't want her on me again." She says consenting to my request. I knew dropping mother would get this moving along, even though I feel bad for using that. Now to get on the nitty gritty! I nod at her to signal to start.

"So first, I'd like for you to apologize to your mother for me. We both know she won't listen to me, and I am sorry for my _deal_. Of which I'm sure you've heard of by now."

Ah, so that's what this is about. Now for the second part.

"But also tell her I don't regret what I said. I did and do mean it. As cruel as it was to wait at that moment to say anything, I had to take my chances. I care for you a lot. But you know and understand why I went for it at that moment."

I do understand her. I always have. I perfectly know why she did what she did.

"That doesn't mean I'd be too happy about the outcome. Even if you were to provide the funds to save me. I'd of course appreciate it and show my gratitude, but for something like that? Kasumi, you must know it wasn't right."

"I know!" She slammed the table while raising her voice, of which caused us to draw in attention. We both quickly said our apologies and resumed conversation.

"It was just….it was horrible Adam. I didn't hear about you until two days later… but what I saw…" Her voice got quieter as she spoke, and I could only wait for her to speak again.

"I was so scared for you. Of all the people in this Nation, your one of the few I care for here. If you left me like that… I just got so scared that I just had to say it. Even if it meant making you not liking me after it, having you with me like that would make me happy." Oh no. Don't do it Kasumi!

"And that's why I need you to answer me this now!" No no no no. Not this again. It practically breaks my heart when she asks this! She looks at me fiercely with a pleading look as she gets up to stand in front me and softly grabs my hands.

"Adam Aoi, will you please take my hand in marriage?"

* * *

 **A/N: Hi! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**

 **College has been interesting so far, I hope those of you who started school as well are enjoying it...hopefully :p**

 **So, I can totally ensure a chapter at least once a week. I may or not update twice a week, who knows! But once a week I can guarantee. so look forward to it!**

 **Have a pleasent day/evening/night everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

The world is full of hardships. Every day we face something new and challenging. Sometimes we deal with these without ever noticing the hardship. Sometimes the hardship puts a massive burden on you, but you can only fight and strive to get through it all, no matter how hard it is. Although, all hardships are unique in the form they take. Some are physical, of which can cause huge stress on your body. Some are mental, which can tax the mental capacity of a person. No matter what form the hardship takes, it always will come to the outcome that the person under this weight: **Will** go through some sort of change to their being.

The same cou- no, is applicable to Kasumi here as she holds my hands and gazes at me pleadingly. I'm not exactly sure what led her to start doing this whole proposal thing, but it changed her a lot. And sadly, me too.

* * *

We used to be quite the pair together in school. She was the new kid from Leanbox who of course looked nothing from Lastation. So obviously the other kids would stay away from her. Her golden blonde hair was so easy pick out in the sea of dark that is Lastation that it was hard not to notice her. I never understood why the other kids would avoid her, she tried to fit in, but it just didn't work. Instead they'd either tease her or just straight up ignore her. Maybe it was her higher grades or beauty? Was it the foreign outlook? Or was it just a dislike for the new kid. Regardless, she became a lonely person. No one would play with her, eat with her, or even talk to her.

That was until I approached her.

All of my friends told me not to. That just getting near her was bad. I didn't understand why they thought that, and I wanted to. I wanted to understand why everyone disliked the blonde haired girl. I wanted to see what the local pariah was like, to fully understand why we all avoided her. To understand why **I** should avoid her, more specifically.

And at first I did understand. She was a mean and rude girl. She never responded to me and usually told me to buzz off. My friends saw how she treated me and kept telling me to just avoid her as well. But I decided to stick my ground and keep trying. The rude trend continued and I was very close to giving up and never even as so much glance at her ever again until she invited me to eat lunch with her. I'm not sure how or why, but Kasumi invited me to eat lunch with her. Maybe it was my constant trying to be around her, her being lonely, pitying me, or something else. I'll likely never know why she invited me to eat with her, but it was the most life changing lunch breaks I'd ever had in my life.

I learned so much about her. How her father is from Lastation and mother from Leanbox, which explains her appearance. How her father and mother decided to move to Lastation. How she left many friends behind. The time she's been having here (horrible just an fyi) and generally just how different from the person I was made to believe she was. Of course I didn't find out all this from one lunch together, but there was one solid outcome from the followed lunches and increased time I'd spend with Kasumi would result in.

I'd lost all my friends.

For a kid my age this was completely heart breaking. I thought that I could keep my friends while spending time with Kasumi and hopefully teach everyone that she wasn't as bad as she was made out to be, but I quickly learned that wasn't the case. I'd apparently "caught" whatever they thought Kasumi had and effectively kicked me out of the group. And of course with them kicking me out, the rest of the school pretty much did too. It was so sudden, one day I was an accepted member of the school body and the next I was kicked out. Kasumi had apologized to me the second she found out and even told me that we could stop hanging out if I wanted to, but I told her not to worry about it. I was the one who sought her out and after learning about her, I only wanted to keep her company. She had been so lonely in Lastation up until I came into her life, that I didn't want to leave her. Who knows just what she'd do if her only friend just up and left her suddenly? I wouldn't like that, so I couldn't and wouldn't do it to her either. It effectively became my silent promise to her: not to leave her alone.

From there, we continued our school life as the now "normal" for us. We'd talk and play together often. We'd get bullied sometimes but according to Kasumi, the bullying lessened in its degree when I started to be around her. I have to wonder just what they did to her before me coming into her life, since now they only said harsh words and were clearly jealous of her grades (she was top of the class). When I asked, she only would say she's thankful that I came into her life and that was that.

This trend continued until freshman year of high school. It would just be me and Kasumi, talking, hanging out, and eating together. It likely would have stayed as such until my friends came back. Our usual days was broken when my old friend's approached me with their apologies. They didn't quite understand why they had sent me away at first and as such had been thinking about it. They wanted to be my friend again but were still wary of Kasumi, since throughout the time we've had school she hasn't shown to be pleasant to be around. I can't blame them for that, since besides me, Kasumi would be cruel to others. She never showed the sides that I knew to others, but I can understand that since everyone else has only been cruel to her. Why would you be nice to someone who's being mean to you? Surprisingly though when I told Kasumi about me and my friends being friends again, she responded quite sourly. She told me to reject them for leaving me easily, but I had countered we could all be friends if she opened up a little to them and that it would be good for her to expand her social interactions. We argued back forth for a while like this until she shouted out "I ONLY NEED YOU A-AND YOU ONLY NEED ME!" Little funny how I can still remember how she said that exactly. A pouting face and tears in her eyes and all.

Needless to say, it got awkward for a little bit. I eventually was able to say that it wasn't healthy to only be around one person and that it'd be good for her to at least socialize with others to some degree. She eventually relented on the grounds that I'd help her along the way. It was agreed and we began to hang out with my old friends at times. She never got that along with them, but it was enough for her to grow more as a person, I think. What she had said though made me take more notice of Kasumi. She'd always be looking at me, watching per say. I'd like to say it was because I was her only friend for so long and was only worried for whatever reason, but I'm not sure. When I asked her about it, she would never answer the question of what she thought of me specifically. Just that she meant what she had said and that was that.

Having thought on it multiple times since then, I think that's when the Kasumi I knew started to change. She became more straight forward and sharp. More cold and such. Gone was the girl I knew with enthusiastic energy, nervous outlook, scared of bugs, loved stuffed animals, and…. just Kasumi. I know we all grow up as we get older, but she had changed so much. I later learned in one of the few outings we had together that she taking extra classes to take over her parent's business, which would explain some of the change as business isn't a pretty world. I can only imagine the pressure that was being put on her. It's so strange really, she changed in the matter of a day. She was the Kasumi I knew yesterday, then it was this one. All but personality were they the same.

She stayed rather neutral to me. Although I knew we were still friends, I myself just wasn't so sure of what we were exactly. She did talk to me, but not as actively before and she never made any sort of comment of just what we were anymore. Any attempts to find out resulted in failure.

This continued into our last years of high school and graduation. We all graduated and I said goodbye to my friends as our career outlooks just didn't match. I wasn't entirely sure what to do myself, and my friends were all prepared. Naturally, we went separate ways and I wouldn't see or hear from Kasumi for quite some time.

Then the incident happened with Avenir. It was all mostly a blur as to when it all happened. I just knew not to be outside much aside from work. It was still mostly peaceful, aside from the quickly waning belief in Lady Black. No one was quite sure of what exactly was happening. Although two certain things were happening. Avenir was gaining the trust of the people and Lady Black Heart was losing it. It was almost as if two factions existed in Lastation, Lady Black Heart Vs. Avenir. That was when the Avenir incident occurred.

They unleashed one of their machines which destroyed large parts of Lastation. That was when Lady Black Heart showed up again and stopped Avenir. It was practically chaos, buildings came down, people were running and in the chaos my father was one of the few who suffered. He died protecting us, as there was a giant chunk of debris that was falling on top of us. He acted quickly and got me and mom to safety, at the cost of his own life. Me and mom stayed where dad was for hours. My mom was wailing tears of anguish as she held me in a tight grip, and I could only stare in shock at where my father had once stood. It wasn't until we heard the destruction of the robot that caused all this destruction in the first place did I snap out of my trance. I slowly moved me and my mother away from scene, all the while mom was reaching towards her husband and me letting out my silent tears of pain of having to hear her wail and departure of my father.

In the months that followed we both changed, more so my mother did. She started to just always stare at me, just watching me. She'd follow me constantly and always try to keep me in eye vision.I can't blame her really, we were a family a three and for her husband to leave like that so suddenly. She had to anchor towards me and to be quite honest I was also afraid of her leaving me too. But I knew we couldn't go on like this forever. Something had to change. So it was with this resolve in my mind, that I decided we'd go to the yearly expo, just get some normalcy back in our lives.

That was when that "event" happened.

It was all normal at first in the expo. Me and mom kept together and went about the expo. We hadn't gone last year, so it was nice to see what was new now. It was our first step to going back to normal. The first step to change, but it only served as a step back. Avenir struck again, another robot, and the Goddess came again to save us. Except this time we didn't have my father. I had to be the man, and I did. Except I didn't have to pay with my life, only get hurt really badly. Which wasn't a good thing since my mother regressed from the progress we had made. She toke me home, treated my wound, and clutched onto me in her room. We just sat there for hours and into the night. It was only after telling her constantly that I'm okay that she finally let me go. That went well, didn't even know what happen in the aftermath of that incident and now my mom was watching over me like an apex predator.

I hadn't seen Kasumi at all in all this time that followed but when I did, I was so happy. To see that my trusted friend alive and well after the incidents, but more importantly to have something normal again in my life. I expected to just chat with her when she came to our door and maybe go out, let this serve as another treatment method for my mom. My mom was already familiar with her so she was welcomed in easily and we sat in our living room. It was going well at first, we spoke about how we were handling ourselves and Kasumi's parents helping those who recently suffered from the Avenir incidents. Until she took out a pen and paper, and asked me:

 **Will you marry me?**

It was a marriage certificate. So like her to just throw a bomb right in your face. My mother's reaction was instant. Since my father's death and my recent injury, she had become super protective of me. She was afraid I'd be taken away suddenly, just like dad, and Kasumi throwing this bomb at us wasn't something she was prepared for. She ripped the certificate up and just about threw Kasumi out of the house. As Kasumi left though, she looked me straight in the eye and mouthed: "I won't give up."

Since then she'd ask me whenever she got the chance alone with me. She gained a great distrust with my mother and as such only ever tried asking the question when we were alone. Which was rare since my mother had her talons on me, I let her since she was so afraid…..and again I was afraid she'd leave me too. We really couldn't catch a break.

So it lasted for the entire duration of the incident of Gamindustri and the year that followed that me and my mother were afraid of losing each other. Gradually we both recovered, me at a faster rate than my mother. I actively had to help her get past it by going out to get a job. She needed to be away from me in order for her to move on, otherwise she'd be nursing a never ending wound. Also the fact that she couldn't work was also an incentive. We were always well off financially but I knew we wouldn't last forever on our savings.

Of course my mom hated me wanting to be a hunter but it was important for money and showing her that I'll be fine on my own, that she didn't have to worry so much. This worked and she slowly started to move past the trauma she'd been undergoing. Although she still remained hateful towards Kasumi, she never would stop unless something changed.

* * *

And here we are again. With Kasumi once again proposing to me. She's a beautiful young woman. With all the attractiveness in the world at her side. Vastly intelligent and years beyond her. After getting to know her, shes quite sweet and pleasant to be around. Great future ahead of her and someone that I have quite the history with.

So why am saying no to her?

Any other sane man my age and background with herwould say yes in a heartbeat. Just from looks alone she kills it. I know just about anyone would kill to be in my position.

But I'm not any other guy (so I like to believe).

Kasumi Kiro has always wanted something. She makes the effort to make it hers but there is always a price for it. Either on her end or the other. I'm not sure what she has to gain from this or lose. I'm not sure of what I'll gain or lose either, well aside from my mother being angry. With her never wanting to give me an answer to why she's asking me this question, there's only been one thing to really base any of this sort of question on.

Our feelings.

I had a crush on Kasumi before. In high school, but I didn't want to be anything more. Being her friend had been so much fun, and I didn't feel anything more besides a fleeting attraction. Then with the random proposal while me and my mother were going under a hard time, I lost even more of the attraction I had towards her.

Her emotions? I have no idea, shes never shown anything along the lines of love towards me. So I can't make any sort of prediction.

So this leaves me with….

"I'm sorry, but my answer remains the same."

Even with all the pleading she does, I can't give her the answer she wants. There's so much that doesn't add up to anything and just running into it wouldn't solve anything.

She looks down with my answer, hiding her face. I feel her hands grip mine tighter. I'm sorry Kasumi, but I can't do it with the way we are.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm sorry."

"I won't give up you know?"

"And my answer won't change, you know why too."

She heaves a great sigh and let's go of me. She looks up back into my eyes, her green into my black. I can't tell what she's feelings, never have been good at reading eyes.

"….."

"….."

We say nothing to each other as we stare into each other.

"You could just te-. "

"No."

I tried.

"Then I guess this is where it ends." I say as I stand up.

She stiffens and moves closer to my seat, effectively blocking me from leaving.

"Kasumi, move please."

"Not until you reconsider."

"We're attracting a crowd now you know."

"Let them watch."

"Kasumi don't be like this."

"I wouldn't have to if you just sa-."

"Said what?"

A third voice. A voice full of venom and the promise of death. A voice I'm very familiar with. Me and Kasumi both froze at the familiar voice.

Turning around, we see my mother with the wrath of the gods on her face.

"I've been waiting for you to come home for so long Adam. I got worried and came looking for you." she says as she slowly walks towards us with that sweet smile of hers. I might be more scared than Kasumi likely is right now. Taking the chance to peek at her, I can see that Kasumi is wide eyed and is breaking into a sweat.

"Imagine my surprise when I heard at the hospital that a girl with blonde hair dragged Adam away. My, it was as if you were waiting for this moment. But you wouldn't do that. Right Kasumi?" By the god's shes so scary!

She stops right in front of us and slowly scans our positions.

"So. What were you two doing here?"

We both stay silent.

"You weren't talking about that question again. Right?"

By the way mom looked at Kasumi, the answer was obvious.

"Well, in that ca-."

"Wait!" Goddess I hope I can pull this off.

"Hmm? What is it Adam? Can you explain this?"

"Yea, it's nothing like you're thinking about. Kasumi had come to visit and we went out to catch up since I was already out. I was going to call you but it slipped my mind. That's all, so please calm down mom?"

She said nothing and merely kept staring at us. After some time she breathed a deep sigh and calmed down.

"Let's just go home Adam, you must be tired. I'll wait for you outside, but don't take too long. Okay?"

"Yea mom, no problem."

She sends Kasumi a glare and leaves the café. Thank goddess we were able to avoid the hidden storm that is my mother.

"You alright?" I asked the startled Kasumi.

She sharply looked at me, and her face was full of gratitude.

"…Yea, I'm alright and thank you for that."

"No problem. She was scaring me too but I do need to go home with her."

She nods understandable and moves out of my way. As I start my leave she grabs my arm quickly.

"This isn't over. Even with her going on me like that and you saying no….I won't give up." This was always one thing I admired about her. Quite the determination on her.

I can only nod at her, and take my leave. I would have liked to said more to her, but I can't take up too much time and I'm not sure what to say to her anyway. With one last look back at her, I can see her intensely staring at me.

All the while I have one primary thought going through my head throughout all of this.

 **Why did our relationship turn to this?**

* * *

 **A/N: This one toke some time to get how I wanted. I even had to replay through re;birth 1 a little bit. but here we are!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and thanks to those who have followed me and such :3. I'll only work harder!**

 **Also, I just changed the tags of the story. It won't change what the story will turn out to be, just I believe (along with a friend) that these tags will fit the story better. Although don't think those previous tag elements are going away!**

 **For now, I hope you all have a good day/evening/night!**

 **See ya next chapter ;).**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

Home is a place that is very subjective. It can quite literally be anywhere really. An alleyway, the forest, a street, a box, and whatever someone wants it to be. As long as it gives you the sense of "home", that's home for you.

And that's exactly where I found myself now, at home, in my bed.

After the little fiasco with Kasumi, me and my mom went home silently. We didn't even make a sound to each other, but I could feel my mom's gaze on me. She's totally going to want to know what happened back there in the cafe. Hopefully she'll buy my "explanation."

It didn't take much time to arrive home as the café was still in the hospital district and the housing district isn't far from it. So our arrival time at home was fairly quick. Our home isn't much since we were a family of three. Just a small two story house, living essentials on the bottom and the rooms on the second floor.

As expected, my mom asked me what had happened immediately the very second second we sat down in the living room. I gave her a quick summary of what happened, a revised version of course. Even with Kasumi being the way she is now, I don't want anything bad to happen to my treasured friend. As such this version of what happened is to keep my mom from hunting Kasumi down and doing something horrible, although I'm not sure what she'd do. Although, I'm sure she won't hesitate to do whatever it is that she had planned.

As I was nearing the end of my explanation, my mom only sighed and told me to stop. Guess she picked up on me covering for Kasumi after all and didn't want to hear it anymore. Really thought I got by her this time. I weaved quite the tale this time.

Instead of the expected lecture I'd normally get for covering Kasumi, my mom opted to just stop. We did nothing for a little bit, me quivering in fear of what she'd do and her sitting silently with her eyes closed. Eventually she got up and motioned for me to follow her further into our home.

As we moved towards upstairs, I could see that the house hadn't changed at all in my absence. Good to see that hadn't changed, aside from the light dust I can see around here. We'll have to clean it soon, I can only guess how long anyone's been in this state over the past month now. It's clear that my mom is leading me to my room with the route we're taking. She opens my room and stands out of the way.

"Even though you just got out of the hospital, it's important that you rest. Especially with the dinner invitation and having to deal with _her_ , it's best you rest well for now." She says as she stands to the side motioning me inside.

"You're right, I need to call the number I was given first to arrange a date for the dinner though. I'm thinking in two days. Gives me time to prepare properly you know."

"Yea, that should be fine. You do need to go clothes shopping; I'm assuming you'll go tomorrow for that?"

I nod back at her as I sit down on my bed.

"Good, for now do rest." She says as she closes the do-

"Oh and, welcome home Adam." She says to me with a soft smile and voice.

"Hehe, I'm home. Sorry for being late."

* * *

It's been some time since I've been left to my room alone now I suppose. It's a rather plain room really. Bed, window, desk, computer, and a closet. Never did want much. I'm just laying down right now on my bed. Reason being, is that I'm about to call the number that Lady Uni gave me to set up the dinner date and I'm horribly nervous. Still trying to figure out why I'm nervous though. Oh well, hopefully I can get over it.

"May as well get it over with now." I say to myself as I take out the PDA and click on one of the few apps on it. The app opens and all that's there is a number. I sigh and pull out my phone and quickly dial in the number and hit call. I swear I can feel some sweat forming already on my forehead.

It rings a few times with no answer and I'm getting increasingly worried with random possibilities forming in my head. What if it was a prank? What if it just a ploy to save face? What if-

" _H-hello?"_

A small feminine voice comes through the speakers of the phone answering my call. She sounds really shy (nervous?) as she answers and I'm quickly frozen at the sound of the familiar voice.

" _Hello? Is that you Adam?"_

A few more seconds pass by.

" _Answer before I hang up!"_

" _W-w-wait! I'm here I'm here! Please don't hang up!"_

Gosh. Why am I so damn nervous! What was with that stutter!? I've never stuttered that much before in my life! But more importantly, why did Lady Uni pick up!? Could this possibly be…

" _Hmph! What toke you so long to answer!?"_

Oh what to say to that.

" _Sorry, I was just caught a little off guard that you answered. I thought a secretary or something would answer the call."_

" _D-don't worry about it! This is the Basilicom number and I just happen to pick up first is all! It's not like this is my p-private n-number or something!"_ I don't know what I should feel about this. A part of me is happy but another part of me wants to pretend I'd never heard this and bury this memory to the far recesses of my mind. Something to think on later.

" _Oh okay, that explains."_

" _So your calling about the dinner right?"_

" _Yea, I just got cleared from the hospital and I wanted to set up the date as fast as possible."_

" _That's great to hear! We'll have the dinner set for the day after tomorrow. That should give you enough time to prepare and d-don't you dare show up late! My sister wants to meet you so don't make her wait!"_

"… _.Yea, I'll be more than sure to show up early so don't worry about me being late."_

" _Good, well then we'll see you soon then."_

And with that she ended the call as I stare blankly at my phone.

I wasn't thinking much about the dinner at first. I just thought it would just be to thank me and I'd be quickly on my way. I didn't expect to meet the CPU of my nation at all. In fact, that was far from my thoughts when I was given this invitation to the Basilicom. I just thought that Lady Black Heart was always too busy to pay anyone any mind besides her own sister. That was after all what it seemed like to everyone in Lastation as she hardly made appearances besides new projects being done. So with that thought process, I thought it'd only be Lady Uni and some other people or something.

"This is going to be quite the experience soon."

I say to myself as I throw myself onto my bed and throwing my phone somewhere. I'll worry about it later, for now I just want to sleep. Let my brain rest from all the turmoil I just went under.

"Life can truly lead to unexpected events…." I mutter to myself as I fall into the land of dreams.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the pretty short chapter! I feel as though the next part would be out of place if I just continued on from here. The next chapter is going to be pretty meaty though, so hopefully you'll all enjoy that!**

 **Thank you for reading and have a nice morning/evening/night!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

"I wonder which of these would go better. The black? The white? Maybe a button up? A dress up shirt!? Ugh, I've never been that good at shopping."

I say to myself as I browse the store I'm currently in. Shopping for the event I'm going to is quite difficult. I have to really lay out quite the first impression with just my clothing for the dinner. After all, I am going to be meeting the leaders of my nation. It doesn't especially help that it's girls that are my leaders. Women. They're quite scary….

Looking around myself, I can see that I've gathered quite the amount of looks towards me. Guess I've been muttering out louder than I thought. I can only imagine as to what they're all thinking of me right now, course all of them had to be women to boot.

It at least should be clear that I'm not that fashion savvy. Most guys aren't anyway... I think.

With a sigh, I continue to peruse through the store while thinking back to this morning that led to now.

* * *

I woke up rather late for once this morning. Most people in Lastation are known for waking up very early including me, but this time I slept in until 10AM. I guess I was more tired than I thought from the events of yesterday.

I began the usual routine of preparing for the day. With plans to go out to purchase new clothing forming in my head, I get up to casually dress. A simple plain black shirt and pants to go with it. Nothing too fancy for shopping. As I leave my room, I note that the armor I normally wear whenever I go questing is missing. I'll have to ask mom about that. Hopefully she'll know what happen to it, it wasn't the cheapest purchase ever after all.

As I make my way downstairs, I can tell my mom is preparing breakfast from the usual noise that she makes. I'm guessing a western breakfast? The smell is so good.

"Morning mom."

"Good morning Adam! Did you sleep well?"

"From how late I just woke up, I slept really well. Guess I was really tired."

"Hmm."

Throughout our small greeting I had moved from the stairs to the table and taken a seat while my mother appears to be done and is bringing breakfast over.

"I thought you'd like a heavy breakfast after all that's happened to you. You haven't eaten much since you've been awake so I thought this was a good chance to fix that." As she was saying this, she had quickly served the plates of food with quite the amazing spread of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes.

"Your the best mom, you know that?"

"Now I do. Eat up as much as you like."

We started our meal at that and began to dig in. My mom is quite the cook, so everything was delicious. Although as I was eating, I was plotting my next move for the day. If all goes according to plan, the day will be extremely easy and I can return home quickly.

As we neared the end of our meal, I began the first part of the plan for today.

"So mom, I plan on going out soon to go buy clothes for the dinner."

"Oh? Good, make sure you come back at a reasonable time young man."

Not looking good so far. Maybe another attack will work? Straight forward might be the best.

"Yea sure, no problem. Although, I was hoping yo- "

"No."

She didn't even let me finish…. wait. Maybe if I…

"You don't even know what I was going to fully say and you just say no mom? Harsh."

"You're going to ask me to go with you on your shopping trip. Right?"

"..." Women are scary.

"I'm sorry Adam, but this sort of event is something you should go shopping for on you own. You're going to be meeting the figures of power in our nation, so **you** should do this on your own to properly present yourself."

…She is right, but the plan must be kept!

"But that's exactly why I'm asking you to come with me! We both know my fashion sense is horribly plain." I gesture to the plain clothing that I currently have on me.

"So that's why you need to come with! To make sure I get something presentable for such an important event!"

"That's also why you should get it yourself. To show **you** , not what I'd get you. Especially since you're the one that saved the CPU Candidate. They'll want to meet the young man who saved her and as an extension how you present yourself to them will be a factor into this."

Damn I forget that she's good at this sort of stuff. I guess it pays to be in the business profession. With so many points before me and I'm sure that my mom can provide even more, I give a sigh of defeat in the end. No reason to make it longer than it has to be

"Alright, I'll go on my own." I said, nearly grumbling. Just because I accepted defeat, doesn't mean I'll take it easy!

"Oh don't be so grumpy about it. You'll thank me for this later. You'll see!"

With that final comment, we ended our meal and I prepared myself to go out.

"I'll be heading out now."

"Take care of yourself! Call me if you need anything. Especially if you encounter _her_!"

"…I will, see ya later mom."

And with that exchange, I made my way to the nearest mall and a gnawing feeling of forgetting something present on my mind. I'll hopefully remember what it was soon...

* * *

Putting back, yet again, another plain shirt. I continue to browse the clothing store that I'm currently in as I finish recalling the events that led me to being here alone... and still not remembering what it was that I forgot. I'll remember soon. Hopefully.

I'm not the absolute worst at picking out clothes. I'm just super indecisive about it. So something that really should take about half an hour to do, takes waaaaaaaaaaaay longer to do. Considering I started this venture fairly late in the afternoon, I didn't want to be here long. My mom being here would make this much shorter, I'm guaranteed to have something nice quickly, and would let me get some rest my nerves for tomorrow. It would be best to be as rested as possible for something like this. Just the thought of meeting Lady Black Heart almost brings me a chill.

As these thoughts go through my head, I had absentmindedly picked up another outfit that I quickly realized wasn't what I was looking for. I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for either way. This going to take awhile.

With yet another eye drawing sigh and accompanying grumble, I begin to fully grasp how long this is going to take.

"Not to mention being stared at isn't any fun."

Literally all these people are just staring at me. Yea I'm horrible at this, but they don't need to judge me so hard. Especially this one stare that I'm getting. I'm not sure why, but the stare seems to be even 10x times more in its intensity than the others. In fact, now that I actually acknowledge it, it's coming from the same person who started to stare at me in the first place. This person I know has been giving me her look since the beginning, considering they stand out so much.

She's wearing by far **THE** most complicated dress I've ever seen. It totally beats out Lady Uni's actually. The girl has fairly paled skin tone with long black hair that is worn in blue bows to form two long pigtails with hair that frames her face. The dress/skirt has various colors of dark blue, white, red, and some gold. The dress part consists of red being covered with black and spiked lining on both layers. She has a giant blue bow tied somehow on her back with another smaller blue bow covering her rather exposed breasts. Her sleeves? I'm not sure if they're dis-attached sleeves or just a really fancy pair of gloves that black that have white frills towards the shoulders. To finish it off, she wears a pair of black boots that are attached to her dress. One word to truly describe her apparel is: fancy. She's either really rich or some sort of fashionista, it'd explain why she's looking at me with obvious disgust. I'd probably get peeved watching someone with clearly no fashion sense shopping while they are as well. Probably.

The entire time that I toke to describe this godly complicated dress, I'd been staring right back at her. Why? To get her to stop staring at me hopefully. I could be more mature about this, but it escapes me right now as I only want to shop miserably in peace.

She's quite tenacious as she's only made her stare even stronger as I toke to staring back at her. Doesn't help that her eyes are red. Makes it all the more intimidating. At least they are covered by glasses, or I'd be set aflame already. Didn't think it was possible to make a look be so intense for something so small. Gotta stop this soon or I'm gonna be here forever since she doesn't look she'll let up anytime soon.

"Can I help with you anything misses?"

"…"

I'm met with only a stare. She isn't going to make this easy for me is she?

"Well, I'm just going to get back to sho- "

"Don't. Your horrible at it." Way to be blunt. As if I didn't already know that…

"That's why I'd feel better if you at least didn't judge me so openly. Especially since I'm going to be here for quite some time."

She doesn't respond to me but instead moves closer to me.

"I can't just standby and idly allow one of my citizens be in such a sad predicament as you! So just this once I'll help you and you better be grateful about it!" She finishes with a flick of one of her pigtails and a point towards me.

I don't respond as what she just said confused me greatly. Citizen? Help? She just confused me so much in the span of a few seconds. I have no idea what to say right now. Could she maybe be a cosplay of Lady Black Heart and just really be in character? Albeit minus the tsundere bit. Maybe? Let's ask about that before I lose my sanity.

"Uh, quick question. Are you by chance cosplaying as Lady Black Heart? You do look like her a lot." My questions gain me a blush and gasp.

"Y-yes I am! I really a-admire her you know? So, I just l-like to dress up as her s-sometimes! I'm not weird or anything I swear!" I do hope your not, but I'll greatly accept your help.

"Well, you do an amazing job at it. If it weren't for the glasses, I'd probably think you were her. Although it'd be hard to believe she'd be out and about." Just going to ignore this for as long as I can really. Just like with Lady Uni.

"Y-yea, I guess so…"

I'm not sure what just happen but she got really quiet towards the end of that and started to look down. The atmosphere is getting really uncomfortable too. We need to move this on before I suffocate from this.

"So you said you'd help me find an outfit? I could really use the help since as you can tell, I'm horribly lost. Since you have quite the outfit on yourself, I imagine you're an expert?" She looks back at me a face radiating confidence.

"You bet I can! Just you wait, I'll make you look amazing!"

She had suddenly gone from gloomy to energetic so fast that I didn't have the time to adjust to it before she grabbed my arm and stormed us out of the store.

"Hey! Can I at least get a name!? I'm Adam!" I shout over the speed that we're going at. What's with people not giving their name at the start of a conversations?

We slow down at my question and she half turns to me while still walking.

"Just call me Noire and you better not forget it Adam!" She says as she fully turns around and points at me menacingly.

And so begins my day with Noire.

* * *

 **A/N: Not much to say besides thank you all for reading!**

 **Excuse the slight tardiness by the way. I was going to update yesterday but I fell asleep .! Life can be busy :3.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic morning/evening/night!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

Regrets.

They come in all shapes and sizes. Big or small, it doesn't matter that in the end; regrets are a very powerful thing in us humans. They can even control our very existence in fact, depending on the magnitude of how we feel towards the regret. Strong willed people can often be turned into a shadow of their former selves as the burden of their regrets weigh on them. Great many a people have fallen for this and is truly a foul fate to befall a person. The regret doesn't even need to take a large form for this to happen though, small amounts can eventually build up and ruin a person as well.

Truly this is a fate that no one wants.

And I'm slowly going down this path of accumulating small amounts of regret as I'm being led by the twin-tailed girl I met today.

"Ooooo! Maybe you'll look great with this red vest on top of blue!? Oh wait! How about a green vest with a yellow long sleeve!? Oooo! Maybe a button up would be a better top! Both of those can go with some dark colored pants though…. Hey! Are you even listening to me!?

I numbly nod to her as she looks at me sternly.

"Hmph! You better be, you're going to be trying all these clothes on soon enough, so you'd better like them!" Noire says in a huff as she turns back to the clothing rack before her in search for more outfits.

I wonder how much regret one can accumulate before they go to ruin?

It's not as if I'm ungrateful towards her or anything. Honestly she has an amazing eye for fashion. Some of these styles and design choices are something only a goddess should be able to find. My mother pales in comparison to her really. Makes me think of what she does beyond cosplaying.

This supposed cosplay of Lady Black Heart, I'm finding sketchier as I'm spending time with Noire by the by. Some things just don't add up.

"I think you'll like this pink button up; it goes well with you!"

I take back everything I said. I can feel my regrets building up and weighing me down already. I guess my time is appro-

Wait!

This entire time she's been picking out outfits, she doesn't even know what kind of occasion she's picking out for does she?!

"Uh, Noire?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Do you know what kind of outfit I'm looking for?"

"Eh? Your shopping for casual clothing right?"

"No. I'm looking for something to wear at a formal dinner."

"…"

Now she's standing there with different articles of clothing in each hand… All of which aren't what I'm looking for. She as well starts to slowly notice this as she looks at the outfits and me.

Slowly, I can see her cheeks start to turn a bright shade of red in embarrassment.

"W-W-WHYYYYY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT SOONER!" She yells out loud suddenly and points at me accursedly.

"It's more so I couldn't with the pace you were going out. You just started yanking me and picking out clothes randomly without asking."

She starts to sulk a little at that.

"I mean y-yea, but…" Ah, she's starting to sulk. Well she's not completely at fault here to be feeling like this. Better let her know.

"But it was still my fault as well. I should have stopped you sooner instead of wasting both of our time like this." It really is both of our faults. Mostly her though since she wouldn't calm down for a second, but it's best not to make her aware of that.

"Y-yea! It is both our faults, but mostly yours! You really should have stopped me sooner you know." I want to ignore it, but I'm not sure I can hold out for too much longer. What's with me meeting this type so much all of a sudden?

"I suppose so, but let's continue with our shopping alright? Let me tell you about what I'm shopping for first now."

She nods and now has an incredibly determined look on her face. Jeez, I've never seen such a strong face for something so small. Well it's small for her at least, I think, that face sorta says otheriwse. Although, I feel like I shouldn't tell her exactly what this is for. I don't exactly know who she is and the fact that her cosplay of Lady Black Heart is so spot on still kinda puts me on edge. Best to avoid any issues with omitting some parts of the truth a little.

"I'm shopping for a rather important event. You see, I'm going to be attending a dinner to meet some very important people tomorrow and as such, I want to make a good first impression of myself. Think we can find something like that?"

Instead of getting an answer, she turns away from me and looks like she's thinking pretty hard about something.

"…Tomorrow…. Adam…" I hear her mumble underneath her breath. I'm really not liking what I just heard. It might mean too many things that I'm not ready for. I might just end up fainting again with an overload.

I'd like to get on with this but it'd appear that Noire is concentrating rather hard about this. She's just standing there and muttering with her palm on her cheek.

"Say Noire, you alright there?"

"H-huh!? Yes, I'm fine! I was just thinking about something is all…" Annnnd she trails off again. Let's pick up a random outfit and hopefully that'll fully snap her out of her little world of clouds.

Let's see… Ah! This should do well.

"Hey Noire, whattya think about this shirt and pants?"

"H-huh!? Oh, that's right we we- "I guess it worked, although she won't have high opinion of me anymore once she sees this.

She's now staring at the amazing outfit I just picked out in utter disgust. I admit while it's a horrible color mixing is a problem (brown and purple), it does the purpose of getting her to remember about what we were doing. She's totally going to insult me in a second here from the completely deadpan look she's giving me right now though.

"That is by far, one of the worst outfits I've ever seen. I know you're a guy and all, but is that the best you can really do? A newly born could do a much better than that." I've never been put down like that so badly before. I can almost feel a cloud of depression form over me. It's a good thing that this isn't really my fashion sense or this would really put me down.

Now I have a few options here: I can fight her back, I could just take her insult, or be neutral about it… Although I do need her still to help me pick out an outfit easier. I really don't want to mess this dinner up with just my clothes either…

"That's why I need you to help me. Who knows what kind of horrible outfit I'd pick out without your help."

"That's right! Of course you need me, and it'd be befitting of me to help you out of course. It's my responsibility as a C- I-i mean fellow citizen to help you after all!" It's taking almost my entire being to ignore all the warning bells going off in my head. My mind has already concluded things that should be impossible, but my body isn't prepared to accept said conclusions. Not even my mind is prepared to accept this yet and it's the one that made these conclusions. Tonight is going to be nightmare to process all this information but for now, the outfit.

"So, I was thinking of blue and black as the main color schemes for the outfit. What do you think?" And with that we finally started to make some progress.

* * *

"Thank you very much for your purchase! Please come again!" The clerk says as the register steals my hard earned credits. Who woulda guessed that just a new outfit could cost so much!? Bah, at least they are really nice and feel like it's worth the price.

In the end me and Noire picked out a blue vest over a white shirt, black jeans, and black dress shoes. It honestly looks really nice. It toke us a while to completely settle, but in the end we got a really good outcome. Albeit it was quite expensive. I can already feel the pit in my wallet, but at least some of the regret I gained was thrown away with her assistance. Really, without her help I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten such a nice outfit together. I'd probably get some horribly thrown together…. thing.

"Well, that went really well. Thank you for your help Noire."

"It was no problem at all. You really looked like you needed help with all the fumbling and it was only right of me to help you with my amazing fashion skills! So what are you going to do now? Are you just going to go home now?" She finishes looking shyly to the side.

I'm not sure how much of this I can take, but obviously I can take more with the question I'm about to ask. I hope this doesn't turn out badly. Although I'm not sure what to make of her right now, she looks a little sad? Did she like hanging around me? Well, I hope this offer will cheer her up then.

"Well I would, but I'd like to offer buying you lunch since you've spent so much your time helping me. I couldn't have done it without you and I'd really like to repay you." It's rather late in the afternoon now and I'm pretty sure she hasn't eaten.

She jumps a little at my offer and looks pretty startled. Did she really think I'd just leave her after our little escapade? It'd be horribly uncouth of me to just up and leave her after all she did for me. Although she is a stranger, it still wouldn't be right to leave her like that. Especially since the suspicions I have of her make it so that I REALLY shouldn't just leave her like that. Besides, after being around her for some time, I do want to spend some more time with her as well. Tsundere part aside...

"A-are you sure?"

"Yup."

"You really want to spend more time with m-me?" Don't sound so doubtful.

"I wouldn't be offering if I didn't now."

"…"

She goes silent and is now looking straight down. I hope I didn't push my boundaries or anything considering the person that I'm asking this of.

"W-well, I'll accept! Only because your insisting so much, I guess I'll grace you with my presence! A-a-and you better be grateful that I'm spending more of my time with someone like you!" Someone like me? I hope that doesn't mean anything bad.

"Well, thank you for accompanying me your majesty. Now, where would you like to go? My treat." Hope I don't regret this either.

* * *

I totally regretted that offer.

Not in the sense of Noire being Noire. In the short time that I've spent with her, I'd gotten used to her…. antics per se. Not sure if I should be proud of that or not.

What I regret was where we went to eat. Guessing some things about her earlier, I totally **should** have expected her to pick a fancy restaurant. The food was amazing and all, but when I saw that bill….

I feel a shudder crawl up my spine as I make my way home.

We ate our meal at a fair pace and talked about random subjects. She's quite knowledgeable in a lot of things and I'd often find myself lacking behind a bit, but I'd keep up. I would poke fun at her 'cosplaying' Lady Black Heart sometimes and get her somewhat expected reaction. We'd actually spend so much time that it was almost 8PM by the time we finished talking and eating. She quickly excused herself, saying that she was probably worrying her little sister and I my mother. We exchanged farewells and made our ways to our respective homes. I did glance back at her to see that she was headed in the direction of the Basilicom. Well that proved my earlier convictions.

And now I'm just on my way home letting the events of today process through my brain.

"At least it was a good day." I say as I slightly lift up my bag of clothes and let out a small smile as I see my home near. Although, now that I think about it some more. In the restaurant, I could feel someone glaring at me. It was somewhat faint, but I just ignored it as I didn't want to interrupt Noire talking. Ah well, it doesn't matter now and I'm at the steps of my home now anyway, and I have another important challenge to overcome now.

I gingerly walk up and check out the windows. Nothing? Yup, nothing. Good so far. No lights either, that's a good sign.

I unlock the door and slowly start to tip-toe through my home as I relock the door. The stairs are in range, all I need to do is reach it and I'll be fr-

"Where do you think you going young man?" I hear a cold voice say as the lights flare up in the living room.

And so ends my day with the twin-tail tsundere 'citizen'.

For what followed was a severe scolding that would strike fear into any man.

* * *

 **A/N: Terribly sorry this toke almost two weeks to update. School/work (mostly work) are occupying more of my time than I initially thought they would. Also some personal things started to take up even more time. Ah well, hopefully it won't happen again, but I do owe you guys a double update on one of these weeks now. Look forward to that!**

 **Hope the wait wasn't too bad, and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Have a great day/evening/night!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

Expectations are something that can never truly be met. They are giant hurdles that almost no one can ever pass once it's been met. They are either easily destroyed or never met, of which lead to various bad outcomes.

This isn't one of those times though.

Not all expectations may end in disaster.

As I lay in bed the next morning in the aftermath from my mother's "scolding", I think about the expectations that were somewhat shattered about the powers of my nation.

Honestly, the people don't know much about the Goddess in charge of our land. We only know that she's incredibly hard working, her HDD form, and that's about it. Anything else about her is pretty much unknown as she never goes out to public unless it's for an important event, but even so she's only seen in her HDD form and never in her human form. As such, there is high speculation as to what she looks like and her personal interests. A lot of rumors go about her, and none of them can really be trusted in. Although for some reason most people ignore the fact that her blog shows a chibi version of herself, and the Basilicom workers leak pictures of her...

Due to all of this, everyone pretty much has some sort of expectation as to what and how Lady Black Heart truly is. Of course I'm no different to that.

My thoughts of Lady Black Heart thought of her as a cold but kind hearted person. A strong person who never gets nervous, fiercely protective of anything dear to her and strong in decision making. She would also be the epitome of beauty in all of Lastation. Something like that.

This was completely crushed when it came to Lady Black Heart's sister; the CPU Candidate Lady Uni.

When it was first revealed that Lady Black Heat had gained a sister (via her blog), there was a large amount of speculation to how she came to be and what she looked like. One could easily assume she'd just be a smaller Lady Black Heart somewhat. Kind of like how regular siblings can be, but with no knowledge as to what Lady Black Heart looked like, it was fair game for all to imagine what and how the CPU Candidate is as well.

I myself wasn't sure exactly what to think of it all. The very prospect of a little sister in a nation was completely new and I was one of the many that questioned it at first. Eventually I sort of just ignored all the possible issues and accepted it. As to what our newest up and coming ruler is? I would allow actually meeting her to properly think of an opinion of her. After all, she'd have to at least be somewhat similar to her older sister right? Just probably less since she hasn't had much experience aside from learning from her sister. So I put some of my expectations of Lady Black Heart on the CPU Candidate.

But when I met Lady Uni, I was completely blown away. She's a beautiful young girl who is trying really hard. She's kind, earnest, eager, and much more from just my first meeting with her to truly get just what kind of person she is. Although, I'm still not quite sure how to feel that she perfectly fits the tsundere trope. Never thought I'd see an anime/manga personality trope in real life. Again makes me ponder just how Lady Black Heart is…

That also leads to another thing. I never, and I mean **NEVER** would have thought that I'd ever get invited to a personal dinner to the Basilicom by the CPU. Few people actually go any deeper into the Basilicom besides the workers desk at the front, but even they barely ever get to see the Goddess. At least that's what has been said. So for a regular citizen like me to invited, it's quite the honor really.

Speaking of which. Earlier this morning at around 7AM, I received a text message from Lady Uni saying that I'd have to come to the Basilicom at 8PM due to more work coming in than was anticipated for the day. Along with a long explanation that it wasn't her phone that she used to text me and that she'd never text me with her actual phone. I was more confused than anything else with her 'explanation 'really.

Anyway, 8PM is a little late for dinner really. But for this sort of event and the busy schedule that I'm sure my rulers have. I should just be thankful that they even bothered to invite me over when they are so busy with improving Lastation.

Although, this now leaves me with ample time to do whatever I please. I could play my LS Vito, but I'm a little stuck on a part of the game that I'm playing and I refuse to look it up online. Hence being the reason that I'm just relaxing on my bed instead of doing anything else. Although, there is another reason for me lounging about and that's in the form of my mother.

Any second now she's going to barge in here and force me to go outside. It's a form of help to help her get over the past events in our lives, making me leave the house. I had actually started this and as she got better, I wanted to stay home more since she was showing improvement with me being away from her. The better part of me wanting to stay home was mostly because I didn't want to wander Lastation for hours anymore. Wandering around eventually gets boring and tiring. Not even the sights of Lastation could make-up for the exhaustion that I'd eventually get. Even so, although it was hard for my mother to let me leave on my own, it really did help her a lot. The bigger drawback is that now she likes it when I leave for at least a little while for no particular reason, unless it's bad weather outside (which doesn't happen too often in Lastation).

It's getting close to around the time my mom would barge in now and I would be slightly worried about where I was going to wander around, unless I hadn't received a text from Kasumi earlier that is.

Although our relationship is a little strange right now, we do still hang out from time to time. Without the whole proposal thing as well since she made it a point to never make any sort of mention of it on these outings. It was established that we avoid that topic when we first started this. I had asked what it was all about on one of these outings and she pleaded me to never even think about it when we went out like this. And just like that, that topic was off limits thankfully. Although I'd still like to know how and why this all started and I can't help but linger about it on these outings sometimes. Ah well. I'll find out about it someday I guess.

Looking at my phone for the time, I see it's almost 11AM. Time to get going to the meeting spot then.

I'm already dressed in a plain black shirt with blue pants, of which I dub as ready for going to the streets of Lastation and make my way downstairs.

"Oh? Going somewhere already?" My mother says to me as I come into view. Looks like she was about to come up too.

"Yea I am; you were about to kick me out anyway right?"

"I wouldn't say kick you out per se…." That smirk isn't helping your case.

"Sure you say that…" I swear she's a demon sometimes. Oh! Should update her about the dinner.

"By the way mom, the dinner at the Basilicom was moved to 8PM. Apparently they are busier than they thought they would be today." Almost forgot to tell her that.

"Oh my, that's rather late no? I wonder if that's really okay…"

"I'm sure it will be; after all I'll be with Lady Black Heart. Nothing can go wrong with her around."

"It is the Goddess we are talking about. Well, just make sure you come back in time to change. You don't want to be late for something like this." My mother says in a stern voice reminding me of the scolding she gave me yesterday. Which actually brings me back to that.

After my mother's severe scolding, she had asked me what I bought to wear for the dinner and I of course showed her. When she first saw it, she was highly skeptical that I actually found it by myself. I had anticipated this and used the fact that I was out for so long to prove that I didn't come home late for some other reason. After all, I'm not the best at clothes shopping, as such it **should** take me forever to find something and of course eat a meal. She accepted it and has led us to where we are now.

"Don't worry, this really isn't something I plan on being late for. I'll be back home at 7 to prepare for the dinner. I'm off now!"

"Take care!"

Luckily my mom didn't ask me where I was headed to. She would be able to get the info of what I plan on doing after some time prying it from me and she wouldn't be very happy with where I'm headed to. It's not that I like to hide stuff from my mother, it's just better to. After all, since Kasumi tried to 'take me away', as my mother would put it, she never felt right with letting me interact with any females really. I really don't want to find out what would happen if she knew Noire helped me pick out my clothes. She has improved with that, but I'd rather not trigger anything. As such I'm now off to go meet with the person that my mother likes the least without telling her.

What a life.

* * *

Not long after leaving my home I find myself in the commercial district that I was in yesterday. Although now I'm not in the clothing section, I'm currently in the square of the entire commercial district waiting. She usually contacts me for these outings randomly with no real pattern to it. Sometimes it would be just for sitting at a park and talking, sometimes to watch a movie, sometimes to do anything really. I would always try to suggest where to go and try to pay whatever bill we had, but she'd always foot it all since it was her way of "paying back". Of which is yet another question she refuses to answer. I have speculated to what she's "paying back", but I'd never truly know unless I get the actual answer from her. Women do enjoy their secrets after all.

Actually, speaking of her. Where is she? She's running a minute late now, and she's usually ne-

Tap. Tap.

Feeling two light taps on my right shoulder, I turn around to be greeted with who I've been waiting for; Kasumi.

She's wearing the now typical yellow dress that I had given her, along with a small red jack to cover her shoulders with a pair of black flats. I don't quite like that light teasing smile that she has.

"Looking for someone?" I really don't like that teasing smile.

"Yea, I'm looking for a lady who wears the same yellow dress quite often. She also has blonde hair so that shouldn't prove too hard to find here."

"Hmm.. I don't know. Maybe this blue haired dorky looking guy could help you. He's a little plain though so maybe he wouldn't be able to help find that sort of uniqueness." Tch. I'll give it to you this time.

Sigh

"You win you win. Spare this supposed plain person will you?" I say as she has a small smile of satisfaction on her face. Usually this would last longer but I couldn't think of anything else.

"So. Where we headed to?"

"Hmm. I'd figured we'd just walk around for a while and pick stuff at random to do. Sound good?"

"Yea, let's get going then."

We started to walk around at random and Kasumi would window shop from time to time. She's pretty fashionable and would look at some of the random small stores from time to time looking at their display items. We'd get strange looks sometimes and this time I'm sure it isn't about Kasumi's hair color. Although that still plays a part.

What we really are probably getting these strange looks for is the fact that we look like a couple.

I'm not just assuming this either, it sorta feels that way too. The way she runs up to me after seeing something she likes. She talks to me about it raptly and I give her a quip about it, then she giggles. We probably look like a newly formed couple, but really we just get along well together. We just about always have. At least until she started with being cold randomly and pushing the proposal business. The whole thing is really strange. It started so suddenly. She was the bright, cheerful, and cute Kasumi I knew one day and the next it was the cold one. I can assume it must have something to do with her family, but I'll never fully know unl-

"Hey. I know what you're thinking about."

Guess my face gave me away too much. I was actually trying to not give it away either.

"Like I asked you before, please don't worry about that while we're like this. I know you want to know but, it's pretty complicated for me right now. It's not like I don't want to tell you, it's just I'm not ready to. So for now, let's just be like this okay?"

With the way she's looking at me and her having grabbed my hand in the middle of her little speech, I can't really deny her. I've always had a soft spot for her after all.

"Alright, but I'll hold you to that explanation on you okay?" I say to her while giving her while softly gripping her hand.

"Yea, of course." She returns the slight grip and we separate hands.

"Let's keep going for now, okay Adam?"

"Yea."

Although the Kasumi now has changed a lot, my dear friend is still there. We are going to be together for a long time after all. I truly do intend to keep that promise I made to her after all. Although, she did crush my expectations of her a little right there.

Expectations are meant to be broken after all.

* * *

 **A/N: Slightly not on time! Damn .. I'm trying to keep the schedule on time, but you know.**

 **Life.**

 **I'll likely be uploading a second chapter later this week (most likely on Saturday. Hopefully). So look out for that!**

 **Besides that, thank you all for reading and every one of you that's followed/faved so far. Means a lot!**

 **Have a pleasant morning/evening/night everyone!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

"I have to go soon."

"Really? Where?"

That's a very good question my dear Kasumi. A question I'm not too sure I'll be able to answer truthfully though.

After our little heart to heart moment, we continued to porous through the commercial district of Lastation. We went into arcades, pet stores, and a whole bunch of stuff. Throughout the entire time I made sure to check the time and soon enough the time for me to go back home was near. As such I recommended that we pass by an ice cream parlor that is the closest to my home to hopefully end this on a good note. Kasumi does love ice cream.

As we ordered our ice cream and sat down, I was thinking about how to easily break it to her that I had to leave. She's rather adamant about these get togethers and as such, typically we'd be out until the moon is fairly high in the sky (9PM give or take). But with the dinner tonight, I have to think of a sly way to get out of here. I have to devise the most perfect method of escape without raising suspicion too much. This is mostly because Kasumi usually didn't like it when I was social around others much. She tolerated it, but she made it clear sometimes that she'd prefer that I stuck with her. As such I must do this method of slyly escaping to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Only for me to just be as blunt as possible. Shining moment there Adam. I could have done it worse I guess.

Now I could easily use my trump card to get out of this, but I'd rather not use it unless I have to. I've pretty much put myself into a pit full of snakes with that wonderful excuse. Those snakes being Kasumi.

"You see. I forgot that I have something important to do at home, and I'd like to have it done before the night is over." Solid.

"Hmm? It's only 6:30." That's the problem. I only got a half hour left to get ready!

"There's no something that you would take you so long to do. You're usually quite efficient with anything you do. Also not to mention that you've made no mention of such project before. Of which you usually do inform me of. Suspicious…" Crap, shes on to me. This is the one of the few times when being known so well by someone can mean your downfall. I can feel myself starting to sweat a little already.

"It's just a little something I started on this morning to kill some time before we met up. Although I'd like for it to finish it by the end of today considering how small it is."

"If it's another upgrade or design, it can wait then no? It's not like you're going to be going out questing anytime soon."

In my spare time when I'm not playing games, I like to design my own equipment/do upgrades. I also sell weapon parts on the internet that I find or am rewarded for on quests, as a way for extra income. I sorta had to become a main source of income in my household after the passing of my father since my mother stopped working with his passing. Just questing wasn't enough really so I had to do something else and I couldn't let us run the risk of going completely on our savings. She knows that a sale is done almost automatically as well, otherwise I do it on my phone and she usually watches me do that. Nepazon is great like that. So the only thing that really takes up my time would be an upgrade/design, of which I typically tell her about since I refer to her on designs from time to time.

"I just like to be prepared." Second try.

"It can wait though. I'd like to spend as much time with you like this as possible you know?" I'd normally return that sentiment but not this time. Guess it's time to use the pre-trump card. I really didn't want to.

I give off an audible sigh that immediately puts Kasumi on edge.

"Alright. In truth, I have an important dinner that I was invited to go to. I'm going to be late for it if I don't leave soon." My third attack!

She gains a pensive look on her face. Probably thinking of who would invite me to something that would be so important and why. She'll figure it out soon.

Suddenly, her face brightens and it appears she's figured it out.

"The CPU actually invited you for dinner!? I sorta find that hard to believe considering the rumors about her being a loner and a workaholic…hard to believe she'd make the time…" She yells/mutters in surprise into an incredulous tone. It's understandable for her to say it like that. She did used to be a citizen of Leanbox in her early years, so she's heard of rumors about the other CPUs most likely.

But even so…

"I'd appreciate if you didn't refer to my Goddess in that fashion Ms. Kiro." I state to her with a cold voice.

In Lastation, if you ever refer to Lady Black Heart as anything besides 'Lady Black Heart', it's seen as a sign of disrespect. Kasumi being from Leanbox originally, was hard for her since Leanbox doesn't always refer to their Goddess in such a way usually. That didn't help in her integrating to the Lastation schools, but she eventually got used to it. Although at times she'd slip and it'd be understandable and excusable to me but this isn't one of those times that she'd slip up on accident.

She fully meant what she said. She'd usually only slip up with that when someone got her angry or insulted Lady Green Heart. Her faith in her Goddess never wavered after all and she never showed much favor to Lady Black Heart. I grew to accept this part of her and merely fixed her mistakes, but this time she really meant it. Although she is a treasured friend of whom I've accepted her faults, I won't just let her disrespect my Goddess like that.

"Even though she isn't seen publically much, she still diligently does her work and truly does care for Lastation. I understand that you aren't from Lastation and don't share the same principles, but if you could at least show some respect for her around me, that'd be enough."

A little startled from my outburst, Kasumi visually shows that she's sorry for overstepping her boundaries with her face slacking and slight tears in her eyes. I almost never get upset with her after all, but for Lady Black I'd gladly show any emotion for her. I do already risk my life for her after all.

"Sorry Adam, I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's fine, as long as you understand."

Spats like this really show how of strong friends we are. This would usually be a rather serious argument between people, but me and Kasumi are able to get along just fine. Even after some of our more serious disagreements as well.

Taking this small grace period, I sneak a quick look at my phone to check the time. 6:50….

I really need to go!

"Look Kasumi. I really need to go now, just text me when you want to hang out again okay!?" I start to yell out as I leave, while leaving my share of the bill of course.

"Wai- Adam! Damn it…"

* * *

"I've never felt so nervous in my entire life until right now." I say to myself as I stand before the Basilicom.

After leaving Kasumi, I raced home to quickly change. Well, after my mom scolded me for arriving so late to get ready. Although it was more of a nervous scolding since she was nervous about me going to the dinner. You could think she was the one going to the dinner with just how nervous she was.

But Goddess am I nervous. I can't blame mom for being nervous for me. Just standing here in front of the door is making anything else in my life feel so insignificant. I wasn't this nervous when I had to deal with the tension in the wake of my father's death or my first quest. Heck, slashing a sword into a dangerous monster is nothing compared to what I'm feeling now!

In the effort to try to calm my nerves, I observe the building in front of me that has changed quite the amount over the year in order to clear my mind. The Basilicom used to be much smaller than it is now, It's now a sort of church/office/home building. Originally, the Basilicom was a building to leave a message of sorts to the CPU and the main governing location of the Nation. It also doubled as an apartment for the Goddess whenever she came down from Celestia. It was mostly a church though.

But in the aftermath of the events that occurred and the year that passed, the Basilicom had undergone great change.

It's gotten bigger now. Mostly since the Goddesses are now always in Gamindustri due to Celestia now being gone, and as a result the Goddesses are always with us now. As such, at least in Lastation, the Basilicom was renovated to properly fit the Goddess and her new born sister. It was sort of a general agreement amongst the people that our Goddesses should live in only the best available in Lastation. Although, not that much changed occurred to the role of the Basilicom. It's now just bigger really with a bigger staff to properly maintenance it, but that's not to say the interior isn't different. But I wouldn't have any knowledge about that since I haven't gone into the new Basilicom….. yet.

Speaking of yet. I've been standing here for a good 5 minutes thinking about this. Checking my phone for the time, I see that it's already 7:50. I sigh and check the text that Lady Uni had sent me earlier. Aside from the tsundere remarks, she instructed me to knock on the front door once I arrived. Seeing this text had reminded me when I was getting dressed that this was really happening and it does so again right now.

With a final onceover myself, I take a deep breath in and knock on the door before me.

…..

It's taking quite some time….my nerves…..I can feel them failing on me. I can feel the sweat forming on my palms and forehead already.

…..

I'm gonna knock again…just in case.

*knock knock*

And now I wai-

*mumble*

It was light. Like. Really really light. But I heard a very slight mumble.

*mumble*

Feeling a wave of curiosity surge through me, I put my ear to the door to try to hear what is being mumbled.

"…..h.w….th…."

"…e…t...ther"

I actually hear two different mumbles behind the door. So that means two people are busy mumbling to each other about something. Maybe it's servants deciding on how to let me in? Or maybe they are wondering who is outside and think I'm just some creep coming to the Basilicom at an ungodly hour?

Choosing to ignore all these thoughts going on in my head, I decide to merely make my presence known to the two people behind the door again. With a little more volume to hopefully catch their attention as well.

*knock knock*

"Hello? Is anyone there? It's Adam Aoi, I hope I didn't come late!" Hopefully that caught their attention.

Instantly I can hear the mumbling stop with my outburst. Instead now I'm hearing panicked talk and shuffling about? I guess I got their attention at least.

After about five more minutes of shuffling and….was that a cry of pain? I hope I didn't cause that with my outburst. Maybe I shouldn't have called out that loudly…

"A-ahem! T-the door is open! J-just c-come in."

No way… Could it?

With that stuttering mess of a voice I'm automatically put on edge. My body feels like it's covered in pins and I'm panicking internally.

They wouldn't do that. Would they? There's no way they would. I mean… there's no way they'd actually personally... but that voice…

Pushing through my emotions and doubts that are running wild, I bravely push open the doors to the Basilicom as instructed.

"W-welcome to the Lastation Basilicom! This is my sister and your CPU Candidate Uni, and I am your Console Patron Unit, Black Heart. Also known as N-noire."

Oh they did.

Standing before me is the young girl I saved and elder sister that I had spent a day with preparing for this very event.

In the same outfit from that day too. No wonder she felt so suspicious before.

"It's nice to meet you again, Adam Aoi." Lady Black Heart says to me as she takes off her red glasses and shows off an embarrassed smile.

My suspicions and expectations were completely and utterly shattered with that. For all of my wildest dreams, I never thought something like this would happen. For the person before me greeting me into her home is the Goddess of my home.

The Console Patron Unit of Lastation:

Noire.

…

I think I might faint.

* * *

 **A/N: So sorry for this coming out late. Again. .**

 **This chapter actually went through a lot of re-writing, so I hope that explains.**

 **Speaking of re-writing. I've been wondering about putting a little blooper section at the end of chapters. A little bit of a look see of how I write these chapters if you will, to give you all a sort of idea of my madness. Tell me what any of you think about this, I'll even add the blooper to previous chapters as well for those curious enough. In fact to give you a little sample of what I mean. Here!**

 **Blooper: This chapter originally had a planned 1,000 - 1,800 word count. Through the editing process, it went up in it's count with a large amount of added content.**

 **This chapter wasn't as eventful in terms of writing, so I hope that gives a decent example of what these bloopers would entail.**

 **Any who. Thank you all for reading and I hope that you have a good morning/evening/night!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

…..

I honestly have no idea what to do. Not even the slightest clue. You could throw me an obvious hint and I wouldn't be able to catch on right now. That's really just how lost I am standing in front of the two people before me.

Although, it's rather justifiable as the duo before aren't just anyone you'd find.

No, this is the CPU and CPU Candidate of Lastation.

With Lady Black Heart's rather blatant admission that we did indeed spend the day yesterday together, I'm at a complete loss as what to do. In fact it looks like even she is too.

She is currently just wearing an embarrassed smile and closing her eyes. I can kinda see some red in her cheeks too. Lady Uni appears to be lost as well, although for a different reason. She mostly just looks really confused right now as she's just looking between me and her sister with utter confusion on her face. I'm not too sure what I look like, but I can surely say that I looked shocked somewhat for sure.

To first have the girl who I saved visit me turn out to be the CPU candidate was one thing. To then have her visit me (however many times she did) until I woke up and formally met her is another. To be invited to the **Basilicom** for a 'thank you' dinner **by** said CPU Candidate is yet another thing. To then meet the CPU and CPU Candidate as my door greeters **and** confirm that the cosplayer of Noire (aka Lady Black Heart), is actually **THE** Lady Black Heart…

I can feel a mental overload that is threatening to make me faint right now. In front of the two powers of my nation no less…

"Uh, are you two okay?"

Luckily, Lady Uni's question bought my head out of the clouds. Good thing too, I really felt like I was about to pass out if my thoughts continued on the track that they were going on. Lady Uni truly is a Goddess.

Wait. Two?

Having finally gotten over my (however long) stupor, I look towards Lady Black Heart to see that she very well might be in the same situation I was in, if not worse.

Her face has gotten extremely red and I can clearly see that the embarrassed smile has started to tremble. Actually, her entire body is trembling! She's probably thinking about similar stuff like me to be having this sort of meltdown as well…or wondering why I'm just standing here without saying anything for so damn long and it's killing her.

Well then, ahem.

"Good Evening Lady Black Heart and Lady Uni, t-thank you for inviting me over for dinner…Uh, Lady Black Heart?"

I was hoping that as I spoke that Lady Black Heart would snap out of her little meltdown…but that isn't working apparently. She's still just standing there for a trembling body and progressively reddening face. I'm getting worried here… I really don't think faces should be able to get that red.

I look to Lady Uni with a questioning look...and she looks just as lost as I am. Although, she looks to be getting more and more concerned about the state of her sister…. And now she's trying to get her sister's attention to get her out of it. Now she's even moving her slightly/while slightly yelling now, trying to get her attention…And Lady Black Heart is somehow getting even redder!? Didn't think that was possible…Gotta do something about this…Ugh, I really hope I don't break any major boundaries here.

I approach Lady Black Heart as she starts to…wobble? Oh man, we really need to snap her out of it. As I get close to her, Lady Uni looks at me with a mixture of confusion and concern. I give her a slight nod and she backs off a bit with a trusting smile.

As I get into arm's length of Lady Black Heart, I can hear her mumbling to herself.

"H..pe…mind…fai…me." I wonder what she's saying to herself exactly, although I can sorta guess?

With a plan formulated in my mind, I move into action by putting both of my hands on her shoulders. The action gets me instant results with her opening her eyes and I'm…shocked to see what I see in her eyes.

As I've always have been, I'm pretty bad reading a person's eyes, but Lady Black Hearts clearly show me what she's feeling. Even an idiot like me can see the insecurity and fear she's showing in her eyes. Although now she's starting to look confused, probably because I'm suddenly so close and touching her.

But as I'm about go about my quickly made up plan, I begin to think about this whole situation. Here I am, in front of the Goddess of Lastation. The women who's supposed to be so prideful and powerful like her nation, the women that I and many others have put their undying faith into, to pave the way for the lives of Lastation, the women who I've always admired and loved since I was born into Gamindustri, is before me looking like she's about to cry just from meeting someone.

'This is my leader?'

'This is my protector?'

'This is my God-'

Stop. That isn't right Adam. She may be a Goddess but if there's anything you've learned from life is that any kind of leaders aren't emotionless monsters that deserve the expectations that we place on them. From the way the that teachers held themselves, you could make it out that they had to give it their all. Making sure the class is in order and everyone behaves themselves. Kasumi's sudden change and role in my life. From watching my parents and the events that led to my father's death. My mother's collapse and me having to grow up to protect and help her. It all showed me that although that there are people above me, they are still human. They feel everything that anyone else does. That my expectations or anyone else's shouldn't determine who and what they are as a person, no matter how close or distant I am.

I suppose that's even more true for a CPU. The people place their expectations and faith in them, but most don't likely bother to get to know them at all. In fact, it might even be lonely for them to be themselves. We human beings do have a tendency for not really interacting for things we worship. Also, considering from what we know of CPUs, they don't choose to become our leaders. As that thought crosses my mind, I think about Lady Uni and the rest of the recently born CPU Candidates. One day, they'll succeed their sisters.

With these thoughts in my head, I slightly tighten my hold on Lady Black Heart, look her in her crimson eyes, and speak.

"I'm not sure what's going through your mind right now and I may never know, but do know you'll always be my Goddess. I'll always have faith in you, my Lady Black Heart." That was actually much harder than I thought it'd be to say. I can literally feel my nerves shouting out at me in embarrassment and slight fear, I really hope I didn't overstep any boundaries here.

Lady Black Heart doesn't respond but only widens her eyes in surprise. I can only guess as to what she thinks of my words, hopefully positive things. Actually, how did I actually say that! It's embarrassing and so corny! Ugh, I can feel my nerves going even more crazy. Especially from her lack of response, seeing as she's just standing there. Also I'm getting more and more conscience of the fact that I'm so close to **THE** Goddess of Lastation!

She finally makes a move in the form of tilting her head down and hides her eyes from me. We stand here for a while longer with my hands on her shoulders. I'm actually starting to realize just how…s-soft her skin is. Wait…did I just mentally stutter!? My life is going out of control now.

"….thank you…"

Wait. What? Did I just hear a thank you?

Before I'm able to fully process that, Lady Black Heart moves away from me and turns around. I hear her breath in and out, then she turns around with a brightly confident face.

"Welcome to the Basilicom of Lastation. I, Noire, will be your host tonight. I hope you enjoy your time here, come Uni let's lead the way."

"S-sis!? Ah, wait for me!"

And just like that, Lady Uni went scampering after her sister. I stood in my spot baffled for a second before I shortly started to follow after them to not get lost. The actual dinner hasn't even started and I'm already going crazy from what's happen in the short time that's passed.

Now that I mention it…what time is it!? I sneak a glance towards the sister's as they start to give a sort of tour, and take out my phone to check the time. For me to see that it's 8PM…that means we spent a whole hour…

Sigh

"I can only imagine how the rest of this dinner will go. Hopefully I don't come home too late." I mutter to myself as I follow the sisters of Lastation.

* * *

Not long after we started our march, we encounter a large door. Speaking of the march, I had taken the liberty of observing the interior of the Lastation Basilicom. From my observations, I can tell anyone that the Basilicom is the nicest building I've ever been inside of.

With just being inside of it I can feel the difference in everything about it. It feels as if it's been touched and built with the Goddesses very touch. The design is so sleek and well-built and I could honestly go on about this forever. Which I won't considering who I'm with, so for now I'll hold my thoughts.

Also while I made my observations, Lady Black Heart had continued her tour of the Basilicom. Generally, she gave me an overview of certain rooms that we'd pass by. Of which mostly consisted of office space of various divisions for work. From technology to medicine and just about anything else. This really gives me even more food for thought at the absurd rate that we discover/develop stuff in Lastation…and the actual size of the Basilicom, it doesn't look that big from the outside.

"…And here we are at the dining room that we will be in tonight. Please, come inside." Lady Black Heart says as we come up upon a black door. Huh, this is one of the smallest doors I've seen so far. Almost any other door has been fairly large. Makes me wonder if this one is special.

We enter and I can immediately tell this dining room is totally different from any sort of formal or business dining room. I've seen a formal dining room from the few times I've seen TV and having been to Kasumi's home. The Kiro family came to Lastation due to their work in business and as such their home was tailored to also fit that need. A long dining room painted primarily black with complimenting colors, furniture going with the colors, all gave it the serious vibe business would usually be held in. It was so unlike the actual dining room of the Kiro family, mainly yellow and vibrant colors to make it feel alive. The furniture was also more family oriented. It felt like the same home dining area that I have at my actual home. Knowing all this, I could tell just from the atmosphere of this room that this dining room…

It feels like home.

This means then…this is their personal dining room!? That's another mental panic attack lined up for once I leave here.

It really does feel like the at home sort of dining room. Although it has the usual black, it plays more of a secondary color as the room is ruled primarily by blue. The table in the middle of the room is much smaller than how a business dining table would be, windows are expertly placed with a beautiful view of Lastation (and the moon that is rather apparent in the sky), well placed décor, and curtains that all compliment the room rather nicely. Even the table is different. It's rather small, fit for six people, a slightly darker shade of blue with black that is all done with a nice design towards the edges and legs of the table, while the middle is a dark brown that compliments the room quite nicely.

This is totally their personal dining room I'm in. Man my internal panic is going crazy right now. It's really is a good thing that I learned to hold this sort of thing in.

There's actually good reason for me to be having such a reaction to those who think I'm overthinking this. Lastation is mostly all business, as such any sort of personal time or place is quite precious to everyone. Having someone other than yourself and family in anything related to such personal time/place is something of great meaning usually.

So for me to be in such a place. Especially the Goddesses. I believe my freak-out is rather justified.

As I was having these thoughts, we had sat down in our seats. Lady Black Heart sitting on one end of the table and Lady Uni sitting on Lady Black Heart's left with me sitting on the other end facing Lady Black Heart. My nerves might get shot from having to sit in front of Lady Black Heart. Sadly, for me it's common etiquette for the guest to sit in front of the host. Hopefully I can take this sort of pressure.

"So Mr. Aoi, how was your trip here?" Ugh. I always hated formalities.

"My trip here was just fine Lady Black Heart. No troubles at all."

"I see, that's great…"

…

What's with this weird silence? Normally a conversation would start about traveling to the place of invitation, how the guest fares in life, the host's current affairs, and whatever sort of small talk before the meal arrives. Lady Black Heart just sorta stopped at the first question. Just looking at her I can tell that she's bothered by this silence, sneaking a glance at Lady Uni, I can see that she's starting to fidget…could it be? Let's try it.

"So Lady Black Heart, how is the affairs of Lastation going?"

She suddenly gets a look of surprise that slowly turns into happiness. I guess she didn't think I'd initiate the conversation. The kind of topic I choose probably helps too.

With that we started to talk about the state of Lastation. What Lady Black Heart has done, progress on the current projects to improve Lastation, and that was about most of the conversation was before dinner was served. Although, Lady Black Heart made it quite obvious that she wouldn't talk about anything regarding the future. Which makes sense really, telling anyone about their plans for their Nation is dangerous no matter what. Besides, Lady Black Heart only has Lastation's best interest in mind, so any secrets she holds are up to her.

Strangely enough though, I had to keep the conversation going as Lady Black Heart would sometimes just stop suddenly. There was no real reason I could even think of for her just stopping, it made for some awkward times though. Also, Lady Uni was pretty quiet throughout the conversation. She only really responded when I made mention of her. Not sure why, but it's her choice I suppose.

Soon our meals were served and we ate in silence mostly, which I'm fine with. It was an insanely good meal, so it'd be a shame not to fully enjoy it. It was a nice juicy steak that was cooked in something I have no idea in. I can cook, but nothing like this. Whatever they cooked this in gave it an amazing taste. It was just amazing. It also came with a side of salad and I just wanted a glass of water. At least something met my expectations, Basilicom food is the best. Check.

"I hope you enjoyed the meal Mr. Aoi." Gosh that's annoying me.

"It was fantastic Lady Black Heart. Arguably the best meal I've ever had. Thank you." I say to her as I slightly bow. One must pay their respects after all.

"O-o-oh! It's no t-trouble! As long as you appreciate it, it's fine! Really, so stop bowing. Jeez…"

"Ah, my bad. I just wanted to show my gratitude."

"Just you being here is enough. Not many accept the invite you know…"

"Excuse me? Did you say something at the end?"

"N-nothing! Don't worry about it!"

I'm pretty sure she said something meaningful at the end, but I'll let it go. She is the absolute last person I'd want to ever upset after all.

It goes silent for some time at that and eventually I see the ladies of Lastation share a glance at each other and nod. Hmm, what do they have planned?

*Scrapes*

Suddenly, without any sort of warning. The ladies of Lastation rise from their chairs and walk to my left side together and promptly stand next to each other looking at me.

I automatically think I've done **SOMETHING** to offend them. With the way they just suddenly stood up, their non-verbal signal to each other, and… are they both blushing?

"Adam Aoi, we'd like to say something to you and make sure you listen to us! We won't repeat ourselves, okay!?" Lady Black Heart says to me in forced but serious voice. To which I simply nod to her in response.

I have full intentions to listen to whatever you have to say anyway Lady Black Heart. Pretty sure that goes for whatever you say as well. Wonder if that makes me the blind follower type? Nah, Lady Black Heart is always reasonable with what she does no matter what, and has shown that she can trusted with whatever no matt-…. I think I just contradicted myself there…

Anyway, I see the ladies glance at each again and Lady Black Heart nods at her sister. They turn back to me and I suppose it's time for their…thing… I really hope I didn't offend them.

Again, two pairs of red eyes meet me and I only sit and wait for them to say or do whatever it is they have planned.

*Breath in and out. *

"T-thank you for saving my sister!"

"T-thank you for saving me!"

Two stuttering voices say to me and finish with a bow.

…Wha…w-wait no! Don't bow! Must speak! Now!

"Your welcome you two and please stop bowing! It was no trouble at a- "

"No trouble!?" Lady Uni yells in near shock. I might have said the wrong words there.

"H-how can you say that!? You got so badly hurt because of m-me! If it wasn't for me being stupid, you'd never had been in the hospital. You wouldn't have worried your mom a-and….seeing anyone like that… is horrible…" Lady Uni slowly trails off with her voice cracking at the end. I think I just made her cry and that's the last thing I should ever do if the look from Lady Black Heart wasn't a clue.

"Look Lady Uni, I'm not sure what anyone experienced from the choice I made, but I knew very well the possible outcomes of my actions were. I don't regret any of it, especially since the person I put my life on the line for is alive. So please don't feel bad about the whole ordeal, it'd feel like I made the wrong choice when saving someone's life shouldn't ever be bad." I say to Lady Uni as I simultaneously stood up and spoke in a hopefully calming voice.

With my turn talking done, Lady Uni slowly calmed down and the look from Lady Black Heart also receded. I live another day it seems.

"...*sniff*...Your right, but!" Oh, I'm not clear yet it seems as Lady Uni raises her tone suddenly and walks towards me with her finger pointed at me. What's with this sudden shift in attitude!

"Don't go off thinking that you can just do something so reckless all the time okay!? That's how you get people to really worry about you…" Lady Uni says as she trails off and gets close enough to poke my chest. One internal sigh and a passing thought of only a tsundere to go from crying to scolding you later.

"Yea, I'll try to at least not make people worry about me. Promise, okay?"

"Humph, you better…idiot."

And with that, Lady Uni relieves me of the pressure of her finger and makes her way to the door of the dining room. Wait…is she leaving?

"I'm going to go now, thank you for coming to our home and have a nice night Adam Aoi." Lady Uni says in a more formal voice with a small bow and leaves…Although, I'm pretty sure she winked at the end there.

Well. With her gone, it's just me and Lady Black He- wait…. Wait wait wait wait HOLD UP!

Just to confirm that she's really there, I take a quick glan- and oh dear Goddess almighty, she's still there. I'm totally in a room alone with Lady Black Heart now. I wish I had more time for mental preparation before this…

"S-so Mr. Aoi, let's take this conversation to another room shall we?" I think I'm not the only one conscience of this development.

"Sure Lady Black Heart. Lead the way."

I'd usually pray to my Goddess to help me through a time like this, but I don't know what do when she's the cause of said trying time. I guess all I can do is hope that I come out the way I came in. Although, I really shouldn't be so stressed around her really, she IS my Goddess after all…

With that thought in mind, I start to walk a little more confidently as Lady Black Heart leads me to our next destination of the night.

* * *

We soon arrive at a spacious sitting that is similar in color/design to the dining room with just some minor differences. Aside from the design, the furniture inside is just like any sitting room you'd find, but it doesn't make me feel any better with the situation I find myself in.

Shortly after we entered the room, me and Lady Black Heart sat opposite of each other and had tea served to us. I've not the biggest fan of tea, but I enjoy it regardless. It was made in the Basilicom too, so I have no objections.

But after the tea being served and us sitting, nothing else has happened. Not even a single word has been uttered and it's making it awkward…guess I have to lead again.

"So-"

"S-so-"

...Well that just happened. At least she put the effort to start the conversation this time.

"You can go first."

"Y-you can go first!"

By the Goddess we can't go on like this. Lady Black Heart is going to get really red if we do if her face is anything to go by.

"I'll go first then, is that fine?" A shy nod is my response. Welp, better get this off my chest. I've been meaning for someway to say this throughout the night after all.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life Lady Black Heart. From what I heard from my mother and the doctor's, if it wasn't for you, I'd likely not be here. At least, not in the shape that I'm in now. As such, I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart." I finish with a bow.

It's quite true really, I was in such a horrible state that no modern treatment could possibly save me. My only hope would have been that experimental operation that even **if** it succeeded, I still wouldn't be able to live my life normally ever again. Not to mention I'd owe Kasumi something, of which I've learned is never a good thing to do. So if it wasn't for Lady Black Heart performing her miracle operation, I'd truly be dead.

"Raise your head Adam."

I do as Lady Black Heart says and I'm met with a sad smile. Why is she wearing an expression like that…

"Honestly Adam, I must apologize to you. After all, this all happened because of me." What?

"If it wasn't for me being such a bad leader and sister, Uni wouldn't have gone off like that. You wouldn't have gotten hurt as a result." No...no. It's not your fault...

"If I had been b-better, none of this would have happened. Y-you'd be fine, y-your m-mom wouldn't have been so worried, Uni wouldn't be in distress, a-and…..I'm just so sor-"

"NO!"

Here I am. In front of the Goddess of Lastation. Watching as she slowly breaks down in front of me with the burden of the responsibility she feels towards the recent events. The events that aren't her fault, the events that without them…

"Your amazing Lady Black Heart. To get up every day and work endlessly for all of us in Lastation without ever expecting anything back, even from those who don't have or lose faith in you, to be so caring during our times of need, and to be the Goddess that gives us all life. All the while you take all of the burden we put on you."

At this point Lady Black Heart has stopped breaking down and is raptly paying attention to my words as I stood up in the middle of my words.

"In reality Lady Black Heart, **we** should be saying sorry and thank you to **you** … So please don't think so lowly of yourself when you're so much more, especially since none of us know who you really are. I'm sure there's so much more to the you than the Goddess of Lastation. After all, your 'Noire' as well." I finish with a (hopefully) warm look in my eyes towards her.

"…"

You know, that was actually pretty embarrassing to say…I even said her name…Oh gosh, I totally overstepped something here!And now we're just…here. It really doesn't help that we're just sorta frozen here. Me standing, her sitting there, possibly shocked since she isn't sa- and I see tears. Yup. She's totally crying now. I might be going to jail now.

"Uhh, Lady Black Heart? Are you okay? D-did I say something wrong!?" I stutter out as I'm starting to panic.

Instead of verbally responding, she wipes away her tears and shakes her head. Oh thank goodness, I'm not going to jail tonight.

"Are you sure?" Gotta check though.

"No, you said nothing wrong. I'm just happy that you care enough to say such words like that. E-even though some of them were pretty embarrassing and I'd preferred that you'd never say anything like that again."

I quickly nod to the rather venomous tone her voice quickly took.

"Good, regardless, t-t-thank yooou for saying them."

"No problem Lady Black Heart, I'll always have faith in you."

"D-didn't I just tell you not to say anything embarrassing again!?"

"Oh, that's right. Sorry."

"As long as you understand, idiot."

I'm starting to learn how dangerous tsundere's are.

"So, what did you have to say Lady Black Heart?" I say before we start with the awkward silence again. Seriously need to stop that.

"Oh! Uh well. I was just going to ask you what kind of reward you wanted." Huh?

"Huh? Reward for what?"

"For saving Uni of course! You didn't think you'd get nothing for saving the CPU Candidate and my sister? I mean, that **MUST** be why you saved her in the first place, right?"

…What?

"Uh, I think you have my character confused Lady Black Heart. First, I saved your sister not knowing she was your sister. I just ran into the situation without knowing anything else besides that someone was in danger. Also not to mention that no one knows what Lady Uni looks like since she hasn't shown herself, so I wouldn't have known who she was anyway. It actually kinda makes me sad that you think I'm that sort of person that only does stuff for a reward." It honestly does. I've never been that selfish I like to believe.

"B-but you're a hunter! You've been doing quests since Lastation's reformation, I thought since there were no other hunters that you were just reaping the benefits!" Lady Black Heart says in slight panic.

"No, I just wanted to ease your burden of rebuilding Lastation." And have extra income, but that was a secondary thing. Also, she knew I was doing quests?

"…" Well this quickly turned awkward. Especially since it looks like Lady Black Heart isn't going to be talking soon, judging from the sharp blush and her looking away. Can't really blame her.

"So uh. Yea, I don't really need a reward. Just knowing that I was able to save someone is enough for me." Lady Black Heart seems to regain herself at that and stands up quickly.

"B-but you need to be given something! No matter what, you saved my sister, and you deserve…just…. I don't know…. **SOMETHING**!" Well, I'm learning Lady Black Heart is stubborn. Luckily, I just thought of a proposition that will hopefully satisfy her.

"Well how about this. The invitation is more than good enough. Not many people get to meet you personally Lady Black Heart, as such, it's already such an honor enough to have even received the invite to your home."

It really is quite the privilege to be invited to the Basilicom. Only typically on business ventures does anyone get invited, but even on those occasions barely anyone actually meet the Goddess. So for me to be invited to the Basilicom **AND** actually meet Lady Black Heart? It's more than what anyone has ever gotten.

"Also to actually meet you Lady Black Heart has been wonderful. I feel like I can try even harder for you in the future now. So, thank you for having me."

"…You really don't mind me?"

"Huh?"

Lady Black Heart looks down at her feet with her question. She sounds really bothered by something.

"I've shown you so many embarrassing things today, and I could barely keep any conversations going. You had to do all of it…are you sure about me?" Well at least she's aware of it all.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about all of it." She seems to slump a little with my admission.

"But I decided that I'd still keep my faith in you." She jumps slightly and is looking straight at me now.

"You've done so much for us after all. Even when Avenir was in control, it was known that you were still here trying your best for us all. You've done a great job with rebuilding Lastation, and you even saved my life. How could I lose faith in you from actually meeting you in person? In fact, it's great to actually meet you Lady Black Heart. Even if our first meeting was by accident, I'm glad to formally meet you regardless. You did a great job with picking out my outfit by the way" She blushes a little at that. It **was** pretty embarrassing.

"S-so your fine with me?"

"Of course."

"Your surey sure? I won't forgive you if your lying."

"I wouldn't dream of lying to you Lady Black Heart."

She tilts her head down again and I can hear her mumble something? At least I think it's mumbling.

"T-then I know exactly what can be your reward for saving my sister!" Huh?

"But I thought I sai- "

"But nothing! You're getting something and you better be grateful!"

…Well, I guess I should be grateful. Something from the Goddess can't be bad after all…Tsunderes are stubborn though.

"Alright, what is it then?" And she's blushing again. What can it be for her to be so embarrassed about suddenly?

"I'll permit you to be my f-f-friend! Only for a reward! Not because I want you to be my f-f-friend or anything! Got it!?" I can feel the tsund- wait. Did she say friend?

…I've been holding in all the panic desires all night, but I think I might finally burst now. What do I even say to this? I've never formally been asked to be someone's friend, so this is kinda weird. Wait, who actually asks to be friends with someone!? I'm so confused, why would she want to be my friend? Doesn't she have friends? You know, it really doesn't help that she's looking straight at me, blushing, and looking so worried. You know, before I lose my mind, I'm just going to accept her proposal.

"Well, in that case, I'd be honored to be your friend Lady Black Heart." I'm honestly surprised I was able to say that without stuttering. This is so weird.

"You really will!? You can't take back what you say if you really mean it you know? I'll hold you to this forever you know!?" Lady Black Heart says threateningly suddenly. Never thought I'd be threatened in such a fashion.

"I do mean it Lady Black Heart. As I said before, I wouldn't lie to you."

"Hmm, I'll believe you for now, and since you are now my f-f-friend. I'll let you call me 'Lady Noire' and I'll call you Adam, but only in private! Also you better not make me regret this!"

So confused…so lost…Lady Bla- Noire. Ugh, I wanna go home…WAIT!

"Wait, Lady Bla-." A stern glare meets me. "I mean Lady Noire. What time is it!?" And the glare is gone, whew. That's going to be hard to remember.

"Huh? It's 10PM, what abo-." I guess she realized the problem as she froze mid-sentence.

"I think I should go home right about now Lady Noire." A terse nod is my response.

"Well, I'd like to thank you for the invitation. I greatly enjoyed the company of you and your sister, maybe we can do it again sometime." I say with a bow. This time she nods with more energy.

"I'll make my way home now Lady Noire, thank you again for the invitation. Good night!" I say to her somewhat frantically as I make my way towards the door.

"A-ah! Wait!" Hmm?

"Yes Lady Noire?" I say to her as I turn around, hand on the knob. I really need to go home.

"Do you even know the way out?" Oh...

"…I don't."

"Humph, I'll lead the way this time. Next time don't be so rash okay?" Lady Bla- I mean Lady Noire says to me in a teasing tone. Guess I was rash there a bit.

"Thank you Lady Noire, I'll try not be so rash next time."

"You better, now let's go...Adam." Oh gosh, this is going to seriously take some time. At least the formalities are gone somewhat. It really was annoying me.

As I'm being leaded by Lady Bla- I mean Lady Noire, I begin to process a bit of what has happened these past few hours. I met the Goddess and CPU Candidate of my nation, I played councilor to said Goddess a few times, was thanked for my good deeds, and spoke privately to my Goddess.

Now I get to be her friend. Although, in a rather weird form of becoming her friend. Still her friend nonetheless, I hope. Still feels weird.

I look towards Lady Noire as she leads me, Lady Noire…it's really gonna get some time getting used addressing her in that way. I've called her Lady Black Heart my whole life, but I don't dislike it. But I'm sure I'll be glad for this relationship I've formed with her. Who knows where it'll go really.

After all, it is the Goddess of Lastation, Noire that I'm talking about.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for being so late but as you can see from the length of the chapter, I've been busy. Busy in multiple ways but I won't bore you with the details.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your thanks giving and had a good time with the following craze of buying. If you went black friday shopping that is.**

 **Thank you for reading and have a fantastic morning/evening/night!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

Relationships.

Just what are relationships really. They can be formed with just about anything really. A tree, dog, blankets, and humans. Really, you can form a relationship with anything, given enough time really. So, what makes your relationship with other humans so different from per say, an object? Well for one, you can interact with them on several levels compared to a blanket. You can hug a blanket and roll around in it, but a human is so much complex. We feel and interact with each other differently based on past experiences and reach a different level of understanding with each person. Heck you can even form a relationship with another human with the other party being completely unaware of it! That classmate or person you start to notice more often from afar. Then you become friends somehow and your relationship starts to level up. All of which can happen without you fully being aware of it, unless you make it your goal to change that relationship.

I guess you could say that happened to me and Lady Noire.

When I was born into this world, I'm positive that there were measures taken to instill reverence towards Lady Black Heart from my parents and everything else that I've experienced in my life growing up. It's not as if we're not free to choose who we believe in, but obviously having been born in Lastation, I'd be more inclined to put my faith into Lady Black Heart. I'm pretty sure that's what most people felt when they questioned their faith for a CPU. We grew up in the environment of the CPU and of course would grow to like it, and ensue the Goddess that governed the Nation. And the people would live like this. Giving faith to their Goddess as she did her best for them. That was the relationship every human had with their Goddess. Believers and their Goddess working in equilibrium to live in harmony, but never going past that. That was the set relationship everyone had with their Goddess. Close but far.

Except me.

When I had left the Basilicom last night, Lady Noire asked with great embarrassment to exchange contact information with me before I left. So, through a great display of embarrassment on both of us, me and Lady Noire had gained a new contact for our lists. Never in all my wildest dreams did I ever think something like this could happen. Being friends with the Goddess? It was unthinkable really and it never crossed my mind that something like this could ever possibly happen. It's felt like a sort of code that one could never get close enough to the Goddess like this, but I guess as expected the Goddess has gone past such limits. Or…I could just be overthinking this? Huh. Anyway, the night ended with us exchanging contact information and promises to message each other, Lady Noire especially was adamant if I felt different (forgot to ask what she did to heal me), and the night ended with me arriving home.

Home was such a nice thought as I made my way home. It was after all, a very exhausting night for me mentally. I had come expecting a formal dinner with Lady Black Heart after all. Guards to greet me at the door, being escorted and maybe being asked (interrogated) why I was invited, going into a formal dining room with the two Ladies, guards in the room and things of the like. What I got was the complete opposite and to really put the cherry on top, I'm now friends(?) with Lady Bla- Noire…this whole naming thing is going to take a while…that reminds me that she's going to be calling me Adam from now on…wait! That means!

No more formalities!

Oh, how I hate formalities. I know it's very important in the business world and life in general, but the whole aspect of putting up a social wall with social titles really irritates me. It's a shame, but sometimes it's a necessary shame for life. Ah well, at least me and Lady Noire (got it!) don't have to go by formalities now since we're friends now.

Friends huh…That actually reminds me of how little friends I actually have had in my life. Ever since becoming friends Kasumi, my social interactions were almost permanently reduced to just her. Albeit there was that little bit of time that me and my old friends hung out again, but that was still rather sparse considering we didn't do much. I always had the feeling that Kasumi was the reason behind my small social circle, but it's not as if I was Mr. Popular or anything. Although that's not to say that I wasn't social but there was just that feeling that people tended to avoid me. Also, Kasumi's outburst of 'only needing each other', hasn't helped my thought process whenever I think about this subject…and when my mother makes note of it.

"Speaking of mom, it's a good thing that she was asleep when I got home. Not sure if I'd be able to explain everything that happened…I can still hardly believe what happened myself." I mumble to myself as I stare at the new contact in my phone: Lady Noire.

I've been laying here in my bed for the past half-hour since 8AM just staring at my new contact in disbelief. I had honestly thought on my way home that most of what happened was a dream, more so the part with Lady Noire asking to be my friend specifically. In fact, I was so sure it was a dream that the second I woke up, I immediately checked my phone and sure enough, Lady Noire was indeed on my (short) contacts list and my doubts were immediately dashed away.

Well, not all of my doubts. The reason why I've just been staring at her contact was because I've been wanting to send a text, just to make sure it was an actual number and not a prank of some sort. I know I shouldn't doubt my Goddess (and now friend), but I think I have a right to be worried. After all, having a relationship such as 'friends' with a Goddess is completely unheard of in Gamindustri entirely. In all the time that Gamindustri has existed (and from what I know of its history), there has never been a close relationship between the Goddesses and humans. We've always given them our faith and in return they'd give us life. A relationship of you scratch my back I scratch yours. We depend on each other to survive and as such, 'friends' haven't really been a subject of possibility for us humans to have with the CPU of any nation.

Although none of this really changes the fact that I have no idea how to act with a Goddess as a friend, let alone how to initiate a conversation with one in the best way possible without possibly sounding like a creep…never thought this'd be something I'd end up doing.

"Bah, I won't get anywhere by brooding over it." I say to myself as I lay my arms to my side laying up and giving up on trying to text her for now. It really doesn't help that I don't have much experience with friends to begin with..

"Adam, you awake dear!?" And that's my mom calling for me. Guess I've been laying here longer than I thought.

"Yea I'm awake! I'll be down soon!" I respond back to her as I get up to finally begin the day. I do have some things planned to do today, and if the first appointment goes the way I hope, then that will set the tone for the rest of the day well.

It's with these thoughts that I'm able to courageously go towards my first appointment of the day and most likely the most difficult: My Mother.

* * *

My mother has always been one of the most important people in my life and vice versa. Although that can be said about anyone's family. I like to believe that it has more meaning for us considering the past we share.

My mother used to be an energetic and outgoing person. She'd always wake up my father and me in time to be prepared for the day ahead of us with an infectious energy that was sure to make us prepared. The way she moved and spoke showed just how happy of a person she was. After all, she had her career, was with the love of her life and had a family with said love of her life. A dream that most people share in life aim to achieve, a dream that she had happily fulfilled.

That was horrendously shattered in a split instant.

With the sudden death of my father came a new dead leaf in the life of the Aoi household. My mother became extremely protective of me. You could actually say that she was borderline obsessed, as she'd just stand and watch me most of the time without saying anything. I didn't mind it at the time since I never really did much in the first place to warrant being alone. I never really went out much due to my lack of friends at the time. Not to mention…I felt better knowing that she was there. It was really jarring, having to suddenly try to take care of my mother, all the while I was suffering on the inside.

At first, we never left the house after my father's death. We'd only ever went out to go buy groceries, but aside from that we never went out for anything else. My mom had a big fear of leaving the house and was so sure that something bad would happen if we left it. This sort of behavior really proved to me that if we stayed inside then nothing would ever change, we'd just slowly stagnant with grief on our minds until death. So, with a ton of convincing, I got us to go to the expo that year. Which proved to be a horrible idea with me getting hurt and only increasing her fear of me getting hurt or being taken away. Of which only increased with Kasumi's timely proposal.

So, it was from there that me and my mother began the slow and lengthy healing process. Through a different number of exercises and trust building were we able to begin to be separate (luckily sleeping wasn't affected by this). At first, we couldn't be apart for long as my mother would begin to have flashbacks of my father's death and a gripping loneliness would seize her. In one of the few times that we were separate at this perilous time, I had found her in a corner of the living room in fetal positions mumbling to herself about being alone forever in tears. It was reality smacking when I saw her like that. Before that, I'd never truly seen the effects of my father's passing had on her, but obviously after seeing that, it was clear that she couldn't function without me. Although that isn't to say that I was fine myself…I was just able to control it better than my mother.

One of us had to be strong after all.

* * *

After going through the events in my head that has led me up to now, it's a little jarring to see how much has changed. Especially the women that is in front of me. She used to have this bright energy around her, but now it's much more subdued, as much as pretty much everything was about her. Although her 'mom' aspect did increase. Not entirely sure if that's a good thing or not.

After having come down for breakfast, my mom immedietly started her interrogation of how the dinner went. I didn't tell her word for word what happened exactly, but I told her enough to satisfy her curiosity. To summarize how she felt, it'd be surprised. She didn't think the Goddess would bring me in herself like myself, and was even more surprised when I told her I was bought into their private dining room. I had opted out of telling her about me becoming 'friends' with Lady Noire and the more embarrassing parts of that night. Until I'm more sure about my relationship with Lady Noire I'm not going to tell her about that tidbit, I don't want to say anything that could cause a possible misunderstanding after all.

"Hmm…" My mom has just been sitting here thinking about the information she's just gained. I have no idea what she could be thinking about. I'm just going to keep eating…mmm pancakes.

"Did anything else happen Adam? I feel like you're not telling me everything." Damn she's perceptive.

"No that's everything. Trust me, if anything extraordinary happened at an event like this, I'd totally tell you." Lying is fun. Hopefully she won't notice my nervousness.

"Hmm…" Don't detect my weakness please. "Well, if you say so. Otherwise it sounds like you had a lovely time with the Goddess." Yes!

"It really was, the dinner was really good and I was treated well by the Goddess and her sister."

"It's strange though…I would have thought she'd have given you something in return for the service you did. A medal or something you know?"

"Ah well, I told Lady Black Heart that I didn't want or need a reward. Just knowing that I did good was enough for me." And not to mention I got something completely unexpected instead. Although, I don't think you can qualify friendship as a reward…others might though. Guess it'd depend on your perspective.

"Well, I would have preferred if you had gotten some sort of physical reward. That way you could have used it for any sort career in the future, it'd help having physical proof of the Goddess's favor. It'd certainly help with getting out of this hunter business." Ah, this again.

This argument goes back to when we were still making improvement in the wake of my father's passing. At the time, we were just using my every once and while walks to get past being separated. It was working at first, but it wasn't good enough for us. We, or I, needed to do something more drastic, not to mention I knew our financial situation was going to get bad eventually with no steady income anymore. It's not to say we were struggling, as my parents had good jobs and saved money often. They were never ones to spend money frivolously often but we weren't well off for sure as my parents had to work hard for the things that we had. I knew this as my parents had given me access to the family funds at the age of thirteen and have kept me updated on their earnings. It was their way of teaching me on the workings of the adult world that I'd have to live in eventually.

So, from that knowledge I knew me and my mother couldn't last on our savings for long, and she wouldn't make a recovery for quite some time, and even then, find a new job. I didn't exactly have a career thought out, so that led me to thinking about hunting.

It fit our needs very well honestly. It'd let us gain an income, separate us for long periods of time, and I could learn to protect myself better so my mother wouldn't have to worry about me losing me as much. I had thought about the more finer details before I proposed the plan to my mother, of whom sharply wanted to reject the idea instantly. She hadn't even let me finish the word 'hunter' before she said no. It toke some time, but she eventually saw the benefit of it all and begrudgingly agreed to it, but not without dropping hints that she hated the idea of me being a hunter every day and wanting me to do something else. Her hint dropping has only grown more and more frequent as Lastation's state has improved as well.

I understand her reasons, but I've grown to like being a hunter now. Of course, it was difficult at first as I wasn't very skilled and was a low level. Got a lot of wounds that nearly scared my mom half to death but it eventually pulled through as I came home with less and less wounds, and my mother grew to trust me more. This change proved to really help us move forward as my mother suffered less from her episodes, but she still hates the idea of me being a hunter as she believes I can do so much more. What more exactly does she mean? I have no idea.

*Sigh* Oh the eternal woes of life.

Oh wait. She reminded me of something just now. Good thing too, I forgot to ask her about it before and now is the perfect chance. It'll also work in steering this conversation into a different direction, not liking where this one is currently headed to.

"Speaking of hunting, what happened to my armor by the by?" My breakfast is long done by now and we've just been sitting here conversing now. Although I think it's getting a little late. At least maybe eleven? I need to get going eventually if I want to get done the things that I have planned.

"Well, after you were bought to the hospital and everything was getting settled they asked me if I wanted the armor to be mended, of which I of course did. I also told them to have the armor upgraded so in case something did happen to you again-"she pauses and gives me a pointed look "-you wouldn't be hurt as badly the next time."

"Hahaha…yea. Thanks Mom, but uh, where is it?" I laugh while she keeps her pointed look. It's as if she's trying to drill a hole in my body with her gaze alone. It just might be working with the goose bumps that are forming on my skin…scary.

"Well, it's at Chian's place for the repairs. It should be done by now so if you're going to be going out, then you should stop by there and pick it up."

"About that mom…"

"Hmm?"

Well, here goes nothing.

"I was-uh, thinking about going back to hunting today. I don't really want to stay idle for long and I feel completely fine now. So-"

"It's fine."

"-I mean, I know you might be afraid to let me- wait your fine with it?"

"Honestly? No. I'd prefer that you became too scared to ever go out hunting again after this incident. I'd prefer that you didn't ever have to swing a blade around at all, even before your…father's passing. It was one thing I hoped you'd never do. But obviously now we're past that, and I know you wouldn't want be stuck around here doing nothing anyway." She gives me a gentle smile and I'm amazed by her understanding. Moms truly are scary.

"Thanks mom, I know I really worry you when I go out and I know promising you that I won't get hurt won't stop you from worrying, but I can tell you now I certainly don't plan on getting roughed up like that again. One miraculous deal with death is enough for one life time." She merely smiles at that.

"Well, go out now before I change my mind. I'm already starting to change my mind after what you just said young man." Oh, that glint in her eye. She's totally serious.

"Yes ma'am! Don't worry, I'll text you when I leave and what kind of quest it is. I'll only do one quest today just to test the waters alright?"

"Alright, now go!" And with her permission, I make my leave towards my first destination of the day: Chian's.

* * *

 **A/N: Hi! Terribly sorry for the incredibly LONG lapse in updating. I won't bore any of you with the details (writers block was the biggest issue), but know that even now I probably won't be going back to the schedule for now. Life has been a fun course :D**

 **Buuuut! I haven't been completely idle! For those new or bored, every previous chapter has been updated. No plot changes have been made, but every chapter has increased in quality, especially Ch. 1. Wonder how I even thought it was okay to upload that as it was... Anyway, I hope not to have a long lapse in uploading again like this as I've gotten my steam back but I can't make guarantees sadly =.=.**

 **As always thank you all for reading, my apologies again to any of you who've been waiting, and have a fantastic day!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d**

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During the occupation of Lastation by Avenir, many businesses were either slowly or quickly being run out of business. At worst they were quickly overtaken by Avenir and became part of it. Passe, the factory that I'm currently in, was one of those businesses that was slowly being run out. Lastation being the hyper competitive nation that it is, is filled to the brim with factories to be as efficient as possible. This naturally makes it a very competitive environment in Lastation, and as such, many factories performed all sorts of services to try to keep up. As this was a sort of war time between nations, most of these factories naturally had a hand in producing weapons of any kind. Passe, being one of the more supported factories thanks to it's direct assistance towards the Goddess, is one of the more recovered businesses and has much wider variety of services available. Armor and equipment repair being one of those services.

"So, you're the young man who I had the pleasure of fixing their horribly destroyed armor eh?" So is being given a lecture apparently. Chian, the owner of this factory is currently holding me up for a lecture judging by the tone of her voice.

"You know, not many guys your age, if any at all, would rush so blindly into certain death like you did. Even for a cute girl, guys hesitate at least to do so." I wasn't going to at first you know. But I probably wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least try.

"Honestly, I'm surprised your alive." Same "Anyone who takes even just a glance at the condition of your armor was in would assume that poor soul was dead." Very true. "The Goddess must have pulled nothing short of a miracle to save you, so don't go getting yourself killed again ya hear?" Protective of the Goddess, aren't we?

Honestly though (my internal remarks aside), Chian is incredibly right. I'm still amazed that I'm breathing right now. I really expected my once in a lifetime save to be used up right then and there. I really do have to thank Lady Bl- Noire (really is going to take some time to get used to that) sincerely some time…question is, how do you thank a Goddess? Would she even want to be thanked? Usually as thanks towards our Goddess people would offer up a donation of some sorts, whether it be gifts, money, or simple prayers at the Basilicom and that'd be it. But, I don't think something as simple as that would be enough to show the gratitude that I feel towards her for saving my life…

I'll just have to think about it as I go. No use giving myself a headache over it right now. Anyway, I should probably pay attention to Chian now before she finishes her rant and thinks I'm insane for looking out into space.

 _*beep beep*_ Hmm?

"Ya know, I should just do the Goddess a favor and not give you back your armor, so that way, you won't go off getting yourself killed again." Chian says with an evil smirk as I tune back into the conversation. She has me spooked for a second before her smirk quickly turns contemplative and eases my worries.

"Then again… if I don't give it to you, you'll probably still go out into the field anyway and get yourself killed even faster." I see that you must have gone through this before, your eyes say it all. Also, pretty sure that's my phone, hope they can wait.

"Why are you even doing this line of work young man? There must be someone who worries about you each time you go out to hunt. There are so many other things you could do to support Lastation. Reconstruction, public aid, providing help for the lost, and so many other things that don't involve you putting your life on the line and causing whoever you have at home to worry." Chian says as she casts a look that's a mix of irritation and worry at me. Not the first time I've gotten that look…but.

Everything she's said is 100% right. I'm very much aware that there are so many other positions I could do that would bring me an income without risking my life. Supporting Lastation as a general worker. To separate me and my mother so we can work through the internal struggles that we both have. So many viable options that wouldn't involve making me leave the safety of Lastation and risk my life. But…

"That's why I decided to become a hunter Chian. Sure, I could've picked up any job and do everything I need to do with it, but being a hunter was the only option available to me that would really help ME."

It's true really. After not being able to help my dad at all when he died, and watching my mom break, I had broken myself. I was truly helpless and unable to do anything at all. I know that even if I was some superpowered cliché anime character, I'd still probably wouldn't have been able to do anything to save him or help Lastation. But being a hunter now helps. Not only am I learning to take care of myself by becoming stronger and going about in the wild. I'm also showing my mom that I can really take care of myself and everything will be okay for us. I'm still supporting Lastation. It shows that I'm changing and moving forward. Most of all though…it helps me escape.

As much as I love Lastation and Lady Black Heart, it pains me to be in Lastation, to be home. My dad will never come back. I'm well aware of that fact. My family will never be whole. The Goddesses had taken care of the evil that toke and endangered lives. They stopped the senseless Console War that had plagued Gamindustri for centuries. But me and my mother are something that the Goddesses can't really help with. Everything was right again in Gamindustri, but the mental scars that me and my mother gained weren't.

In reality, being a hunter is just the coping mechanism that I decided to pick up.

"I can't say I know what you mean but if you insist so much, I can't really stop ya." Chian says as she takes her eyes off me and moves towards a pair of stands nearby. "At least your armor came to me to fix up. I made some adjustments to the coat it to make it more lightweight without losing its durability since you're going to also be wearing this body armor. So, you should be able to avoid dying a little bit while you're out there. Unless you jump straight into an elder dragon again." She says with a bit of bite. Really makes me wonder how many times she's had conversations like this.

Disregarding her words for now, I move towards the armor stand that houses my now enhanced armor…and body armor I guess. It's basically my regular outfit that I typically wear under my coat: a white shirt that now has lightly plated armor and pants that come with the same armor plating throughout. I really wonder how well that armor will go in protecting me without losing the speed I need. This makes me wonder how much doing the enhancement and adding on the body armor costs. My mom shouldn't be able to throw money out like that, we really don't have funds for thia sort of thing…and I was kinda expecting an change in appearance for my coat. Upgrading it like Chian said she did should have done…. SOMETHING to it. Anything. Little disappointing.

"Judging by you're face, you were thinking that it should have been altered somewhat in its design, right?" A swift nod is her answer. "Well all I did was enhance its weight without losing any durability since it looks like you go for a speedy style of fighting, that doesn't constitute a different look. Unless of course, you'd like to have it done. At a price. After all, I was only paid to repair and enhance it a bit by the Goddess. Also, to add the body armor. Another reason you should be thanking her actually." Chian says as she lightly smirks at me.

The Goddess- I mean Noire- really is trying to show her gratitude. Who knows how long in advance she put that order in to have this all done. Most likely while I was still in my coma like state. I'll have to thank her for that too.

"Mind if I try it on?"

"Of course, it is you're armor in the first place anyway. In fact just take it and go. If there is anything wrong with it, just send it back and I'll have it fixed up on the same day, free of charge."

Nodding towards Chian, I open my inventory and take my armor. It's really cool what the technology of Lastation has allowed us to do. We have this sort of status wrist band that acts like an RPG inventory UI. It shows your stats, equipment, etc. It makes it very convenient to carry stuff around and check how you are. Although it does make one question if we're living in an RPG world or not.

"Thank you very much Chian. I'll try my best to not fail you or the Goddess." Don't think it'd be a good idea to address the godde- Noire, so informally in front of anyone.

"Just make sure you actually follow through with those words." ' _She really must have gone through many situations similar to this way too many times.'_ I think to myself as I leave Passe. Although, I can't help but feel that I'm forgetting some things…

* * *

After completing my business at Passe, I decided to immediately head towards the Guild to see what kind of quests might be available. It's probably rather silly to even think about taking up a quest since I've only rather recently been released from the hospital, but I'd like to have an idea of the traffic that the Guild might be having…although it usually isn't much really. With most people focusing on rebuilding Lastation, there isn't time for people to go out and post quests. Which may be a good thing since a lot of people used to post some questionable quests.

I'm not to sure I'll even take up a quest though. I might just take it easy an extra day before I seriously restart my questing. If not for my own sake, at least my mom's. She may have given me her blessing, but I know she isn't complete-

 _*beep beep*_

Oh, that's right. My phone has been making notification sounds throughout my time at Passe. Kinda forgot that it was. It's weird though. There's only really one person that'd be texting me since I've blocked Kasumi (unless she's made a new number again), so I really hope it's just spam and not my mom asking me where I am or something. Otherwise, I may be facing something worse than the Elder Dragon.

Alright, let's see. Unlocking, message app, aaaaaaaann- wait what. I must be seeing things. No way. Nope. Don't believe it. Just gonna close my phone and put it away. Yup. I'm gonna stand here in shock for a good while real quick now. Please, none of the dozens of people around me mind me thank you very much…..* _beep_ beep* Ah who am I kidding? It's either I answer this text(s) as fast as possible or may face one the purest of wraths that could ever be sent upon someone.

With that pep talk (and some odd looks around me), I take out my phone and open up the messenger app again to find that I've now received five messag- six. Six messages.

Taking in a deep breath to face my music, I open up the contact that's been sending me all these rapid text messages: Lady Noire.

" _Hello Adam, this is Lady Noire sending you a message to request how are you doing today? Please respond back at your earliest convenience. -You're friend, Noire."_ Lady Noire,1:20PM.

" _I'm doing fine myself by the by. Couldn't ask for better weather on this fine day. Oh! Uni is doing well as well. In case you were going to ask."_ Lady Noire, 1:28PM.

" _The day really is quite fine today no? I might just step out of the Basilicom today to enjoy it! I've just been working on various big projects on restoring Lastation today. Of course, after a light breakfast. One does need to start the day right! What did you have for breakfast if you don't mind me asking?"_ Lady Noire, 1:36PM.

" _Oh! Don't feel any need to answer me ASAP. I can wait. After all, I'm quite busy myself with the projects that I'm currently doing. Very important stuff for a Goddess of my caliber after all."_ Lady Noire, 1:40PM.

" _But please don't keep me waiting for too long. After all, I don't know if I'd be able to reply when you do answer me. My schedule is quite busy, but I will try to keep myself free for whenever you respond!"_ Lady Noire, 1:41PM.

" _It's not as if I_ _ **WANT**_ _you to respond or anything. It's up to you when you do, and it wouldn't really bother me if you did or didn't respond actually, but it'd be nice."_ Lady Noire, 1:43PM.

"… _Adam?"_ Lady Noire, 1:45PM.

"Holy Four Goddesses and Celestia above." I say without any real control of myself. I'm almost utterly shocked, and I would be stock solid in my spot for quite some time if it wasn't for my burning desire to respond to her before she thinks I'm blowing her off.

Now what to say!? I don't have that much experience texting people, let alone a Goddess! Then again, it looks as if Lady Noire doesn't have much experience either judging by the way she's texting. Ugh! Whatever. Just gotta say something.

" _Hello Lady Noire! Sorry to keep you waiting I was having quite the conversation with Chian at Passe and have only now just finished my business with her. Sorry to keep you waiting."_ Adam, 1:53.

I really hope that explains well enough to her why I didn't respond fast. Although, it kinda feels weird to explain myself to her like this. Kinda like an obsessed girlfriend. Then again, she is the Goddess. It should be reversed on who keeps who waiting for a response.

But not even I would want a response that quick, whatever.

 _*beep beep*_ That was fast. Better respond quickly before she thinks otherwise, but first.

Taking a quick look around myself first, it's obvious that I'm being stared at by the various people around me. I must have really looked strange to garner this much attention. Luckily, I'm near a park since the Guild is conveniently placed near one, so I'll just look at this text and contemplate an answer as I make my way towards the park, so I can fully focus. Now to see the text…

" _Oh, don't worry about it! You were busy and obviously didn't have the time to reply. I was just afraid that I may have gotten the wrong number somehow since you weren't answering, I'm relieved to see that I didn't. How was you're business with Chian?"_ Lady Noire, 1:54PM.

I already know how to reply to this one. She really made it easy to quickly think of a reply actually. But first off…where is… a bench…theres one! Now to take a seat and give Lady Bla-Noire, my full and utter attention. Don't want to blow off a Goddess for multiple reasons. I wonder if there's any sort law against that or not. Better not to find out.

" _It went well_ (for better or worse), _I got my armor back better than ever before. Thank you for having it repaired and improved by the way, Chian told me it was you that ordered for it to be done, that was very thoughtful of you. I'm very grateful Lady Noire."_ Adam, 1:55PM. I almost put Black Heart out of instinct. It really is going to take quite some time to address the Goddess by her name. Ah well, now to occupy my time until sh-

 _*beep beep*_ That was fast. Either she's giving me her full attention (hope not, that'd really make me nervous), or she's just that insanely good at multitasking. Which really wouldn't surprise me, she **IS** Lastation's CPU after all.

" _I-it's no problem at all! Honestly, it was the least I could do for you after what you've done for me. Just don't go do anything rash that'll get you killed again. We are f-f-friends now and it wouldn't do for my f-f-friend to get himself hurt again."_ Lady Noire, 1:55PM. Didn't know it was possible to stutter in text. Well then. Hopefully she won't be too mad at when I tell her that I intend on going to the Guild.

" _Uh, well about that. I'm actually going to check out the guild today now that I've gotten my equipment back. I'm not too sure if I'll actually take up a quest, but I'm at least going to see the status of them."_ Adam, 1:56PM. Really hope she won't be mad. I can only pray until she replies, and hopefully let's me go. Then again, I probably won't be waiting long since she's been responding rather quickly.

 _*beep beep*_ And there we go. Let's see if I got a paragraph or not.

" _While that's very diligent of you, I don't approve of you going to the guild so quickly after you've only really just now recovered."_ Exactly what I expected. _"But, it's not like you could do any quests today anyway."_ Huh? _"There weren't many, so I did them all already, so you should just take it easy for the rest of the day. Did you have any other plans after going to the Guild?"_ Lady Noire, 1:56PM. You know, if she wasn't the Goddess, I'd be saying that it's a load of bull. There must have been well over fifty quests and more that have piled up, just by the constraints of time alone it should be impossible. You'd have to had been awake since like, 3AM to have done all of them by now. But I guess that's what separates humans and Goddesses. I just have nothing to do now apparently…

" _That's amazing Lady Noire! Then again you are the Goddess of Lastation, so I really shouldn't be that surprised and uh no. Getting my stuff and going to the Guild was the highlight of my day really. Talking to you has also been a highlight, but I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself for the rest of the day."_ Adam, 1:57PM. Quite a fact. I didn't plan that far into the day, I probably would have just hung out with my mom or played one of my many backlo-. _*beep beep*_ Didn't even get a chance to finish my inner monologue.

" _T-th-then would you like to m-meet up with me for lunch!? You don't have to if you don't want to! Or if you're mother wants you to be home, or if just anything else came up as we're talking, but I'd REALLY like to hang out with you! But like I said, you don't HAVE to, it's entirely up to you if you want to or not but I really do want to hang out with you!"_ Lady Noire, 1:57PM.

….What. How do I respond to this? Casually hanging out with the Goddess…Such a thing…And she really does…with me?

" _Of course! I'd love to hang out with you. When and where?"_ I type out with my nerve wacked and sweaty hands. I feel like I'm a high school girl talking to her crush. But it's much worse, I'm talking to the Goddess of Lastation, Lady Black Heart.

' _Goddess I really hope I don't f*** this up.'_ I say to myself as I look towards the sky as my phone beeps again to signal another received text message. I stare at the notification and the name of the sender for a moment before I look at the name of the location, time stamp for arrival that's enclosed in the message, and make my way towards the said location.

I really hope I don't royally mess this up.

Also, I feel like I'm still forgetting something…

* * *

 **A/N: Merry X-Mas, Happy New Year, etc. Obviously I'm late as all bloody hell. Heck, I even recruited some of my friends to help speed up the editing process for this chapter. Which will make me pretty upset if I still find some errors later. I have no real excuse besides work, school, and overall trouble with writing. For a while, I didn't exactly know where I was going with this, as I'd sit down and write this, only to erase paragraphs. Multiple times. But I totally do now so hopefully that'll translate to faster production. Hopefully.**

 **I'd like to shout out to the number of people who have followed/fav this story, even with big lapse of update time.**

 **As always, thank you for reading, and have a fantastic day everyone.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

* * *

" _Let's meet up at the Central Mall then,_ _there's_ _plenty of places for us to hang out at! I'll meet you there at the fountain in the middle around 2:30 and don't you dare be late! See you soon!_ Lady Noire, 2:00PM.

You know, I'm super excited about this meet up. I've never really hung out with anyone besides Kasumi since I became friends with her. Well, I did have times when I and my friends had reconnected, we had a couple of chances to hang out. Although, these hangouts weren't really what they used to be. We would just go to places, talk, eat and do whatever we wanted. With the addition of Kasumi having to be present, as she refused to allow me to go by myself. It made things rather difficult at times. Like, we'd be hanging out and having a good time, but every time that I tried to include Kasumi into any conversation or activity, as she would just stay as close as possible to me without trying to get involved, it'd just get really awkward. She'd either outright refuse any sort of socialization, or nearly beg me to leave my friends behind at times. Sometimes I did just that. I can't say that I didn't expect this sort of behavior from her, but not to this extreme. It felt as if she never wanted anyone to have anything to do with me besides herself. Well, her declaration from before may have been a hint to that idea, but there's no way that's physically possible, and she's never been this proactive about it before. Not to mention there isn't any sort of logical reasoning besides me being her first real friend. Like, I had expected it to at least be the type of really awkward interactions between two parties that are newly acquainted, but instead it felt as if there was a steel cold wall between my friends and I when Kasumi was around. Well, I can't say it was JUST felt, since I saw it happen a few times in person. My friends would pointedly try to stay a bit further away from me than usual when Kasumi was close to me for example. They'd also direct conversations away from me and her, but I'd see them glance over to me at times. I did ask my friends about these interactions one time during one of the rare times Kasumi wasn't around me, and they didn't really answer me. At all. They just sorta clammed up before looking at each other. They eventually said there was nothing wrong and that it was a little difficult to suddenly talk to someone like Kasumi so quickly.

I somewhat understood where they were coming from. It wasn't easy to be friends with Kasumi, and especially having so suddenly be expected to befriend someone like her so quickly. I could see how she was difficult to be around, which explained their behavior to a degree, but it still felt as if there was something else at play. Not to mention that at that point, it had already been a month and a half, plenty of time to be fairly acquainted with someone.

Anyhow, I digress. My level of excitement was just as high as my level of nervousness. After all, how does one casually hang out with a Goddess? Is it even possible to do so without getting lynched? All the Goddesses have a "secret" cult that worships them to a rather extreme point. If anything on the internet is be believed with any grain of salt, then it's crazy how fanatical these cults can get. Although they aren't really secret since everyone knows about them. Ugh. This is so freaking stressful. It feels like the first time I reconnected with my friends. Except it's a Goddess. I swear, there must be some sort set of rules and regulations about this kind of stuff somewhere…

Ah well. At least as I was lost in thought I had made it to the mall…with 10 minutes to spare. Lastation really was mapped out well. Everything for entertainment purposes have been placed relatively close to each other for maximum efficiency. It does really help with productivity, so no one can really complain of the placement of the buildings. Speaking of buildings.

The Lastation Central Mall is the only mall in the nation. You'd think that'd be a bad idea for the nation, but it more than makes up due to it being the size of a fortress almost. It has just about everything and anything you could ever think of. All sorts of stores that sell a wide variety of product. Food, clothes, armor, weapons, shoes, medicine, aaaaand it'd honestly take forever for me to list what exactly is sold in this giant of a building. Just about everything is sold here really. I haven't been here that many times, due to Kasumi and me not having much of a social life. Kasumi didn't like crowds, so we typically went to quiet places or my house. She never really liked going to her house though for whatever reason. Although, one of the bigger reasons we didn't go out publicly really was because people would look at her oddly, which was a given thanks to her appearance. She'd get very annoyed and irritated quickly, so she liked to avoid the whole situation, but when we started to hang out with my old friends she had started to be more vocal of her dislike of going out. As such, going out to large crowded areas (like this mall) was a definite no go. I've went with my parents before but really, I don't really know much about this mall as I haven't gone to it much since I became a hunter. I haven't had time or money really to do so I'm a little afraid my lack of knowledge may hinder this hangout… Ah whatever. I'll just have to do whatever I can. I like to think I'm not completely sociably inept, but for now, I'll just find a bench near the fountain or something to wait for Lady Noire at.

The fountain is placed right at the entrance of the mall, so it makes for an excellent meetup spot for groups. The fountain itself is rather beautiful. It has a statue of Lady Black Heart in her HDD form in the middle with multiple spouts for water to jet out into a large basin. The fountain itself is surrounded with dark tiles that lead into various entrances to the large mall. Scanning around the area as I make my way towards a bench, I see a large crowd gathered in front of the fountain. I wonder what's goi- oh. Never mind. They're all dispersing now. Guess whatever it was isn't really all that spe- That's Lady Noire. Looking quite flustered might I add.

"Man, I thought that was Lady Black Heart. She looks SO much like her, doesn't she?"

"Totally dude. If it wasn't for the glasses, I'd be 100% convinced she was. Though, it's a little weird to be cosplaying as her in broad daylight no?"

"You're right, but it's a treat none the less! Anything Lady Black Heart is perfect!"

"Totally dude! Still though, that cosplay is WAY to accurate…"

Conversations similar to this one was going on around me as the people dispersed and returned to what they were doing. There is no actual way that some person can cosplay as Lady Black Heart so well that they would cause such a commotion. Everyone knows exactly what the Goddess looks like, human or HDD form, so they'd have to look almost exa- that's Lady Noire.

Amidst the sea of departing people from the center of the fountain, Lady Noire can be seen standing in the center looking quite flustered. She's wearing red rimmed glasses and her typical dress that everyone has seen her wear a thousand times. It actually makes you wonder if she has multiple copies of the same dress, or if her one dress is blessed with some sort of magic causing it to never get dirty or tear. None the less, that's 100%, without a doubt Lady Noire. And if the conversations around me are anything to go off on, she somehow convinced them all she was a cosplayer. I don't know if I should commend the Lady's speaking skills for being able to convince the people like that or shake my head in shame of my people.

Speaking of the Lady, she's looking straight at me. Better make my way to her.

Now, as my legs are slowly carrying myself closer to her, a sudden thought enters my mind: How do I greet her!?

By normal standards, a simple 'hello' would do. But this is obviously by no means anything normal. I'm meeting the Goddess of Lastation for a **casual** hangout. Casual. A word that normally isn't associated with our resident Goddess. She's known to be extremely strict, efficient, stubborn, and hard headed. My meeting with Lady Black Heart before really shook me. I had expected an insanely formal dinner with her in HDD form with this aura that would shake me. Instead I had gotten a friend. I really don't know what to do. God it feels like the first time that I ever hung out with anyone outside of socially obligatory situations. That was an incredibly awkward time for me and it feels like it all over again as I near Lady Noire.

I'm…honestly scared. Very scared. I'm so lost on what to do. I kind of want to just run away and pretend that I didn't see her with an excuse that I saw a cosplayer instead of her. That's pretty believable, if any of the dozens of people who just got tricked are anything to go by.

As I'm getting closer to Lady Noire, I'm seriously considering this option, looking in hindsight, I probably would have run away if I hadn't looked at her eyes at that exact moment.

It was only a quick glance, nothing much, but the glance that I had gave her was the only one that was needed in order for my eyes to be driven towards her.

Her eyes. They contained such joy. Pure happiness is what it'd really call it really, not joy. It's almost as if she's amazed that I actually came, then again, I could sympathize with that. I felt a similar emotion when my friends came for our first ever get together I believe, but it looks like she's feeling something more intense.

I hadn't noticed, but in the time that it toke me to get lost in Lady Noire's eyes (cringing as I mentally say that), I had gotten very close to her. In fact, we're only a couple of feet away from each other. It seems that she may very well be in the same sort of trance that I was in…. and now we're just awkwardly standing here. Well, to be more accurate, I'm the one that's standing here awkwardly staring at her straight in the eyes. I mean, Lady Noire is also staring me in the eyes, except that she's not entirely there. I have my senses with me and can totally stop this little thing we have going on.

Except that I'm not stopping this. Her eyes…such a nice shade of r- WAIT! NO!

In an effort to stop myself from going down a route I could never come back from, I started to rapidly shake my head left and right while slapping my cheeks. That's one way to stop this weird moment for sure. Not a preferred method, but it's better than where my thoughts were going.

The effect of my actions isn't instantly rewarded as I had expected, as it takes Lady Noire a couple seconds to react to my rather sudden actions.

"W-w-w-what are you doing Adam!? Stop it!" Lady Noire says as she worms her way around my actions and grabs hold of my shoulders to forcibly stop me.

Now. I know I said that us staring at each other vacantly was rather awkward, but this might be even more awkward as we're now just standing really close to each other with Lady Noire's hands on my shoulders. She's slowly starting to gain a fierce blush as she too, has realized our rather precarious situation. I totally can't take this as I can feel my own blush growing on my cheeks thanks to the…ample view I'm being given. Pretty sure this is grounds for execution and if it isn't lawful grounds for such, many cults would do the job happily.

"O-oh!" Guess I don't have to think up of a way to get out of this. Lady Noire noticed our situation as well and quickly put some distance between us as she slightly twists her body away from me. Good thing too, I feel like I was about to have a heat stroke…but now we're at an awkward situation again. Guess, I'll just lead.

"So…" Man, she instantly snapped her entire body back onto me. Way to put the pressure on a guy. "Those are…nice glasses!" So weak. I even slightly yelled that. I feel like such a lame anime protag right now. If I had my sword I would totally- that's it! That's what I was missing, my freak-

"Pfft, what kind of compliment is that Adam! Way to sound lame!" Lady Noire (I'm getting the hang of it!) says as she lightly giggles into her hand. Well, that's one way of ending an awkward situation.

"Yea… I just had to say something. To clear the air" I say feeling incredibly embarrassed.

"Well you certainly cleared the air with a cheap line like that." Lady Noire says as her last bit of mirth ends with a hand to her mouth.

"Yea well, umm anyway. Did I make you wait long? It kinda looks like you've been here for a bit with all the people that surrounded you." I say as I put my hand behind my neck.

"O-oh, no, you didn't make me wait long at all. I just got here a little early is all and the people started to swarm me. I'm really surprised that they saw through my disguise…" That statement just made me question so many things. So much that I just flopped my arm back down to my side. How did the Goddess of Lastation think that adding glasses to her attire would fool people? Furthermore, how did the people believe such a crappy disguise in the end? Maybe it's best I never understand.

"Ah well, maybe that means some people really know our Goddess."

"Haha, yea. Maybe…" Lady Noire says awkwardly, but dejectedly as she looks downwards slightly. I think I messed up right there…and now it's awkward again. Great.

"So uhh…do you want to head on inside the mall and look around for now Lady Bla- Noire. Lady Noire." Guess I'm not as good as saying her name as I think I am.

"Ignoring you're screwup there, I think that's a good idea. There's a couple of stores I want to go to first, then we can go wherever. Just don't mess up my name again, okay Adam?" She said that like a question, but I feel like it's more of a threat than anything else.

"Right, sorry about that. It just sorta slipped out."

"Hmph, it better just has slipped out. It'd be a pain if my f-f-friend addressed me so formally all the time. Now, let's get on, shall we?" Lady Noire says as she turns towards the entrance of the mall and begins to leave me behind with her arms crossed against herself.

"Right, Lady N-noire!" I find myself saying as I move to catch up to her.

It feels so weird, but pleasant. Before, I was panicking at the idea of being around her as a "friend". I'm not entirely sure about how I thought about this at first when we became "friends" but hearing her say it really makes it sound true.

I won't lie, even with her having texted me and asked to meet up. I still felt as if it was all a joke or a dream. For someone like me who's only ever seen the Goddess on T.V, prayed for the Goddess and given her the blind faith that most Lastation citizens do, to suddenly be saved and asked to become her friend? I know it's more complex than that, but it's really jarring. How could someone like Lady Black Heart think I'm good enough to be her friend. Just saving her little sister couldn't really be enough. It really makes me think…just what did she s-

"Hey Adam! Are you going to catch up any time soon!? We don't have all day you know!" Wait what?

Unknowingly, I had slowed down to a crawl as I had gotten lost in my thoughts and lost some distance on Lady Noire. I shouldn't think about this for now, it's not healthy.

"Sorry Lady Noire, I'm coming!" I say as I pick up my pace to catch up to her.

I glance into her eyes for a second before glancing back away and saw mirth and joy dancing in her red eyes.

For now. I won't think too much more on this. I can't think like this really. I don't know what she thinks about this, and everything I can think of are really just wild assumptions that I have no excuse for making up.

Besides. I feel my lips begin to widen at the thought which is rare nowadays, but…

It'd be nice to have a friend.

* * *

 **A/N: Can't say much about the rather late update. But thanks to the people who have been following/faving this story in my longish absence. Good to see that people have an interest.**

 **Hopefully I won't be lazy or distracted for the next update, but with BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle and my birthday coming, idk. I'm probably gonna write the second I get home anyway. Who knows! I might end up finishing another chapter before I fall asleep tonight.**

 **Anywho, as always, thank you for reading and having a pleasant morning, evening, or night! Also, happy Memorial Day weekend for the U.S!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

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Friendship is an interesting concept.

Humans desire this sort of bond throughout our entire lives. Someone to hang out with, talk to, and share memories with. It makes life so much more worth it for us. Yet, at the same time, friendship can also be a cause of pain and anguish.

My old friends can be a good example of this. We had been pretty good friends before I became friends with Kasumi. We would all eat together during lunch and talk about all sorts of trends. We would play together all the time and generally make each other's boring school days exciting. When we had gone separate ways, we didn't cause each other any issues, but it clearly stung for everyone that we at the state that we were at. It was quite an event for us to reconnect though! When I was able to actually spend time with my friends (minus Kasumi), it felt as though we were never apart, and nothing had ever come between us. It made me feel so happy. We made excellent memories pre and post Kasumi, the in-between being…difficult.

When we had stopped being friends, they didn't antagonize me or anything. They had weirdly accepted me as Kasumi's friend and left me to my own devices with her. It was…pretty awkward. Our eyes occasionally, met and immediately ignored each other. We came to an unspoken agreement to never acknowledge each other in that time. Until we reconnected of course.

"Hey Adam! How does this look on me?" Lady Noire says as she leaves the fitting room, breaking me out of my thoughts. Crap. I wasn't paying attention, gotta make something up quick. Let's see…whoa.

Honestly, I might be embellishing this a little, but she looks absolutely stunning wearing her hair down into a side pony tail with a light purple bow keeping it together, a simple dark purple dress with a small black belt around her mid-section that emphasizes her uh… assets.

"Uh, Adam, are you okay? You're kinda staring." Lady Noire says nervously. Shoot, got side tracked again.

"Sorry, was just caught off guard for a bit there. You look amazing by the by. I'd say that'd be a good buy." I say to Lady Noire as I quickly dart my eyes to her face and see the slight blush on her face. I hope that blush mean's she's embarrassed and not angry. She's absolutely the last person you want to ever be upset with.

"I'll excuse you for now, but stop spacing out like that okay?" A quick nod is my answer to her demand. "Good! Although, I guess in this case it's a good thing that you'd space out over something like this…" She says as she closes her fitting room door. Don't think I was supposed to hear that last part, but it's better than the alternative.

With a relieving sigh, I slump my shoulders back down and wait for Lady Noire to change back into her clothes.

You know, when we first walked in after our awkward time outside, I had expected to be spending most of our time going through various clothing stores. Waiting for Lady Noire to find clothing, try them on, repeat for some good couple hours, and then MAYBE make a purchase. All of this would finally end with us eating then going home. After all, that's how our first shopping trip went, unplanned as it was, but we weirdly haven't really done that.

Surprisingly, we just walked around and talked. We first just started with some small things. We talked about our hobbies (which is mostly gaming, everyone games in Gamindustri), our current progress on our current games and future games that we plan on getting/playing. It always surprised me that The Goddesses aren't excluded from gaming. In fact, I learned that all the Goddesses either develop or help develop the games that each country release. Lady Noire herself has played apart in just about everything that Lastation ever produced, as she pointed out to me consistently throughout the conversation.

This line of conversation eventually branched out to us talking more about ourselves. I told her about my experience as a hunter and how I had learned to swing a sword. Which wasn't much really. The guild had given me a good couple courses, and then the rest was trial and error. Lady Noire informed me more of her CPU duties, which consisted of taking care of more intense quests and public displays. Oh and, paper work. Plenty of paper work. Apparently, she could go weeks, nearly MONTHS doing nothing but paper work. She did go into detail of what her paper work entails, but I was only able to barely keep up to what she was saying midway through. What's most important that I had gotten was that CPU's have to be the best at everything to keep their nation alive, but it does seem lonely…

Anyway, we eventually went into one of the many clothing stores, leading me into my current situation. Which so far, hasn't been that bad actually. Unlike when I've gone with Kasumi to any clothing store, Lady Noire doesn't question 24/7 about the clothes she wants to try on and doesn't pester me for a compliment or anything on every article of clothing that she puts on. Which is honestly a good thing, I didn't know where to put my eyes on for just about anything that Lady Noire put on. Not like Lady Noire picked out risqué clothing or anything, it's just…I don't know. Half of me felt like I was being a pervert for seeing her wearing so many different articles of clothing/style and the other half felt horribly nervous about this whole ordeal. The Lady…is really pretty.

The time I've spent with Lady Noire so far has been very enjoyable. So much, that I can't help but think about Kasumi.

Whenever I've been with Kasumi, I usually feel this strong desire to please her as much as possible. Like, it's some sort of other worldly desire that I can't really fight. Anytime that I'd try to reject her in any way, I'd just get horribly chilling feeling telling me otherwise. It could be over the smallest issues like, me just being slightly away from her when we're walking together and I'd just listen to her desires. Sometimes she'd try to hook her arm around me and we'd garner many looks. I'd try to get her to look go, but she'd never even budge a single bit. Honestly, you could call us a couple from just how we acted, and I couldn't really fight you about it no matter how much I tried.

It's strange really. How our relationship evolved. I really do wonder when it started to change to what we are now. It wasn't sudden, I'm not exactly sure but it felt slow. I know that it has something to do with her family, the gap in interaction we had prior to the incident of Lastation. If only I knew more…

"Alright Adam, I think I've got what I want. You ready to go?" Lady Noire says as she approaches me carrying the dress I had given a yes to and a couple of other articles of clothing she had personally picked out. I actually don't even remember those pieces being picked up…

"Yea I'm ready." I say to her as we both begin our way to the cashier. She rings us up and we're out of the store easily.

"Say Adam, mind if I ask you something?" Lady Noire says as we begin our walk around the mall again. I had tried to take the bags from the store from her, but she had insisted on carrying her own.

"Yea, sure." I say as I nod my head. "Well, it's just that, I noticed that you seemed sort of distracted when I left the fitting room. Is everything alright?" Oh, she noticed. "Well, it's really not that important. I was just thinking about a friend of mine, Kasumi." I non-absently replied. Thinking about Kasumi now these days makes me a little sad. It just reminds me constantly about how we used to be.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lady Noire says as she looks away. Oh, I think she toke this the wrong way. "I uh, think you toke that the wrong way Lady Noire." Lady Noire turns around and gives me an inquisitive look. "She's very much alive and we're only friends. It's just that our relationship is rather difficult right now and it sometimes gets me down just thinking about it." I say in a rather solemn tone. It really does put me down to think about it, but at the same time, it feels nice to finally tell someone.

"Oh, that's a shame. It sounds like you really value her, I hope that whatever happened between you two can be fixed." Lady Noire says as she turns back towards me and gives me a look of sympathy

"Yea…I hope so too."

With that, our conversation died out and we continued our walk-in silence. I started to just observe the people around us to better occupy my mind. It's a rather nice thing to do whenever you find yourself surrounded by people. Observing people around you can be a great exper- huh Is that? I don't want to believe that is who I think it is, but it can't be anyone else.

Deep within the endless stream of people, I can spot a lone blonde sitting on a bench. She's only wearing the yellow dress this time with flats and minus anything else. She isn't doing much besides sitting on the bench…and staring straight at me.

I'm, I don't know. I don't know how to feel really. Kasumi doesn't ever go out alone as far as I know. She's always gone out of her to avoid any sort of crowds unless I'm with her ever since she's come to Lastation. People have always ostracized her for how she looks and her incredibly rude attitude (which the people around her made her become), but mostly because of how she looks. Lastation has always been rather hard on the other nations. Our pride makes it difficult for us to ever really get along with the other nations and even with each other at times. This causes us to either ignore anything we don't like or actively cause us to seek out to do something about whatever is causing us discomfort. It's quite cruel and evil at times, but I can't say that I haven't also done something like that before. Not to the scale of mistreating someone or worse, but usually just avoiding something that I didn't deem fit wasting any of my time on. Small things really.

Which really makes this encounter all the stranger. People are glancing at her in a very open matter, and some males are even gawking at her. I know that she utterly hates the attention people give her as she would usually grip my arm and whisper to me of her said hatred whenever we were together, but for once she's ignoring everything around her to focus her eyes directly on me.

It's…not a stare I can really describe. It's just a stare. I can't tell any emotion behind it (no thanks in part to my lack of reading), but it makes me feel like I've been caught red handed in some heinous action.

"Adam! What are you doing!? I almost lost you in the crowd!" I hear Lady Noire yelling out to me suddenly, bringing me out of my eye lock with Kasumi and causing me to turn in the direction of Lady Noire. "Ah, sorry. I just spotted someone that I know." I respond and return my eyes back to Kasumi, of who's stare has evolved from a stare into a glare! "Oh. Who is it?" Lady Noire says as she steps closer me to look over my shoulder to try to see Kasumi. In response, Kasumi's glare turns harder for a second before softening up and returning to the normal stare from before.

That was…weird. I didn't expect that. I mean, I did and I didn't. Kasumi has always hated the very idea of anyone being remotely close to me, and has been very active in me knowing that, but it feels like there was something else involved with that glare. It, scares me… aaaaaaaand she's coming.

"Oh. Is the blonde girl that just got up your friend?" Lady Noire inquires as Kasumi begins to weave past the crowd of people. "Yea, that's Kasumi." I respond in an uneven tone. "You okay? I guess she's the one that you have issues with, but they can't be that bad, right?" Oh, you have no idea. Well, I guess Lady Noire will most likely find out in a bit, since Kasumi will no doubt say something about me being out without her. Although it does make me think about our issues more. It mostly stems from this random marriage proposal, and Kasumi's lack of willingness to give me a reason for it. We've never had a chance to sit down and talk about it, all we've done so far is avoid it, maybe if we did talk it out, we could at least come to a compromise. "Maybe, but we'll see." I say as I move start to move towards Kasumi. "Let's go greet her quickly and get back to our outing. I'll talk to her about our issues another time." All the while my heart is pounding a mile a minute in anticipation of this encounter. I just hope this goes well.

It takes some bobbing and weaving, but I eventually meet Kasumi half-way and greet her.

"Uh, hey Kasumi. Whatcha up to?" Gotta try to be casual.

"I can ask you the same, you don't normally go out." Kasumi responds in an even tone. I already don't like where this is going. "Well, neither do you." I respond in kind.

"I just had a spur of the moment desire is all. Still, it's strange to see you out Adam. Especially so short after you just being released out of the hospital, I'd assume your… mother would keep you home."

"Well, the hospital cleared me of all possible issues, so I figured I'd get myself in order and go around a little. Stretch out my legs a little."

"And how come you didn't invite me to go with you?" She sounds a little angrey now.

"Ah well, I had som-"

"Adam! You need to slow down a little, I almost lost you in the crowd again you jerk." Lady Noire says as she catches up and stands midway between us as she catches up. "Oh, sorry Lady No- Black Heart. I just, had to speak with my friend Kasumi here." Lady Noire, gives me an odd look at me saying her CPU name instead of her real name. I can't really explain it, but I just had this feeling not to reveal just how close I am to Lady Noire around Kasumi. Something akin to an instinct. "That doesn't mean you can just leave me like that! What if I lost you and couldn't find you, I'd be scared for you!" I don't think she's talking about me with that, but I shouldn't point that out. "Sorry Lady Black Heart, I was just excited to see Kasumi. I'll try not to get lost from here on out."

"Hmph! As you should, worrying me like that for no reason…"

"Again, sorry." Man, she really knows how to guilt trip a guy, even knowing it isn't my fault, I still feel a little bad.

"Ahem! So. Who is your 'friend', Adam." I almost forgot about her.

"Ah right, sorry." *Ahem* "Kasumi meet Lady Black Heart. Lady Black Heart meet Kasumi." I really hope nothing goes bad.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Kasumi! I'm Lady Black Heart, CPU of Lastation, friend of Adam." Lady Noire says as she puts her hand out for Kasumi to shake.

"Likewise, Lady Black Heart. My name's Kasumi Kiro, a _very_ good friend of Adam's." Kasumi responded after giving Lady Noire's hand a heated look and firm shake before letting go. "Oh, how long have you known Adam Kasumi?" The look on Lady Noire's face tells that she felt the shake/look that Kasumi sent her way but ignored it.

"I've known Adam since we were young, and we've been together since then pretty much. In fact, we pretty much only hang out with each other. We don't have anyone else but each other. So, it's a little strange to see him out with someone besides me, especially with someone like you, Lady Black Heart. I didn't think CPU's had the luxury to be able to interact with their people. Let alone befriend anyone." Kasumi says all this as she keeps her eyes centered on me, essentially ignoring Lady Noire in favor of keeping her attention on me.

"I have friends! CPU's can do anything so long as they set their mind to it! So something like having friends is something can be easily be done. In fact, I probably have too many friends to deal with!" The way Lady Noire said that isn't very convincing. "Anyway, it's great to hear that your friendship together has lasted so long. Friends are very important to have" The way Lady Noire said that…makes me feel sad.

"Yes well. Adam and _I_ are very good friends. In fact, we're each other's only friend. _We_ haven't _needed_ any others." I could feel the venom from her words in my very veins. I need to stop this before this can get any worse.

"Well then! Sorry to cut this short, but me and Lady Black Heart have to move along. It was really nice seeing you Kasumi but I'll see you later." I clap my hands to draw attention and quickly give this sorry excuse to try to make an exit. Kasumi's eye's turn wide and turns herself straight on me.

"Ah, that's right! Sorry to cut this short Kasumi, but we do have to get going." Lady Noire says as picks up on what I'm trying to do and begins to back off from Kasumi. I follow her lead and follow her.

"I'm really sorry to cut this short Kasumi, but I'll talk to you later, alright?" I say as my final piece and begin to walk with Lady Noire. It hurts. I feel like I'm getting stabbed directly into the heart. Leaving Kasumi was never something I've been able to do, or willing.

"Please don't leave." I turn around instantly as Kasumi says those words to see that she's looking down at her feet now. "Adam, please don't go. Please. Stay with me." Kasumi says in a depressive tone that tugs at me more than anyone could ever understand. Her words serve to deepen the hole that the knife had made in my heart. It almost makes me instantly change the direction of my feet from Lady Noire to Kasumi.

This reminds me of my self-made promise that I had made to Kasumi years ago. I never spoke to her about it, but I always kept it, and I feel like she somehow knew about it. Whenever there was any chance of me leaving her, in any meaning of the word, she'd always beg me not to do so in various ways. I'd always instantly listen to her regardless of what could happen.

Always.

"Sorry Kasumi, but I can't just leave Lady Noire… I'll call you later. Promise." I say to Kasumi as she looks back up at me with the most crestfallen expression mixed with shock. "So, it's that way." Kasumi says as her eyes moisten and her expression eases into…something else. "I'll let you 'hang' with Lady _Noire_ for today, but you'd better not forget to call me if you know what's good for you Adam." Kasumi declares as she turns about and storms off to the exit of the mall.

I know that my choice there was the correct one, I couldn't just suddenly leave Lady Noire. She's the very first person besides Kasumi to want to be my friend. It also feels right to branch out, and she DID save my life. Besides, who could give up being friends with Lady Black Heart?

"But I can't help but feel like she left just now in more ways than one just now." I mutter to myself as I begin to feel numb. The hole in my heart now bleeding and waning in pain. She definitely left with more then just herself. Weirdly enough though...

"It does feel right." I say to myself as I look back towards Lady Noire who had watched our exchange. She gives me an apologetic smile and moves towards me.

"I'm sorry about that. It feels like it was my fault."

"Don't worry about it. It's probably a good thing that this happened."

"Are you sure?"

"Totally. C'mon, we shouldn't let this get us done, we still have a whole day to go through and I'm feeling pretty hungry after that." I say to Lady Noire as I begin walking to the food court. She nods and follows me.

I really do feel like that this was a good thing. Ignoring the stabbing pain in my heart, maybe this will let us grow past the stale state that our relationship is currently in.

I just really hope nothing bad comes of this.

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 **A/N:** **I feel pretty bad about this release. This chapter has sat on my laptop pretty much done for a good month. I do have to say that this chapter changed significantly from before, but I got sorta distracted by BlazBlue TAG and Octopath. Also some fun stuff happening. I do have to say that I have been working on something on the side as I edited this chapter, and we'll see how it goes.**

 **As always, thank you all for taking the time to read. Thank you to everyone who has fav/followed, and hope you all have a wonderful day.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.**

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What exactly makes a God or Goddess?

Well first and foremost, it would be faith. If no one believed in the said deity, they may as well not even exist. The issue with this, is showing that you exist.

In the past, way before I even existed, there used to be only one Goddess. There isn't much to go on about her time as a Goddess, but one could gather that she interacted very differently from our Goddesses of today. Our Goddesses constantly show themselves to us either in their HDD form (which is most of the time), or in their 'human' form. From what one could barely scrap together from the original Goddess's rule is that she barely ever showed herself. She gave displays of power and ensured the people lived comfortably, but she almost never showed herself like our current Goddesses. That is until some great war happened, and you could see her fairly often from there until she separated her powers and created our Goddesses. So the records of the past say at least.

You would think it'd be a good idea, as each Goddess could keep each other in check and we could all live-in harmony, which didn't happen of course. Beings of power tend to be that way, which led to the long drawn out Console War. The power that sparked this Console War. Without it, each of our Goddesses would die. So, it's in their each respective best interest to maintain a good flow of shares. Of course, in exchange, we are protected by our Console Patron Unit. A mutual effort to keep each other alive.

In the case of our Goddesses, they create games and ensure that we all live as best as they can possibly provide us. In a sense, you could call them our parents.

Which doesn't help how I feel currently.

Lady Noire left me at one of the many food court tables to go get us some food. She felt bad about how our exchange with Kasumi went, and insisted on treating me to make up for it. Regardless of how much I told her not to, she remained strong and refused until I conceded. Not like I would have lasted long anyway, refusing you're Goddess is as good as signing a death warrant.

Which leaves me to sit here and think about the last half hour or so. I know… No. I feel that I made the right choice in staying with Lady Noire. She's the friend that I had just made, so it wouldn't be right to just leave her in favor of Kasumi. Right? I mean, I've allowed Kasumi to be my focal point for the majority of my life. It isn't wrong to want to spend time with other people. It doesn't help that Lady Noire is the Goddess of my home, I don't know if she'd be vengeful or understanding, but she's a Goddess. Not like there is much of a choice when you factor that in…but. When I think back on it, Kasumi is most likely the reason that I never had more friends besides her. My own lack of social skills didn't help to that dilemma, but Kasumi didn't help with how…possessive she is? I'm not sure if that's the word I should be using. I mean, I was and have been her only friend, so I COULD excuse someone for not wanting to lose that. But, at the same time, isn't that what she's always did? But maybe I should have gone with Kasumi? I haven't known Lady Noire for as long as I've known Kasumi, so maybe that wouldn't incur Lady Noire's wrath? I don't know. I had to break my self-made promise, was it worth it? Breaking that promise hurt me more than anyone could possibly understand. Nothing but maybes are swirling around in my head. I do feel that staying with Lady Noire was the correct decision though. From how she spoke about having friends before, it leads me to believe that she may not have many friends. Didn't I stay with Kasumi oh so long ago for the very same reason?

Ugh, my head hurts. So much drama.

Still, I just can't help but think about how Kasumi acted throughout her exchange with Lady Noire went. She felt off. Really off. The amount of aggression she had towards Lady Noire felt completely unnatural. Like, ugh. If I were to best describe it, I'd say a predator coming upon something that was in its territory? Yea, that sounds like the best analogy. Makes a shiver run through me though.

Thinking through it all like this still hasn't helped me sift through my confusion. I mean, I feel like I've thought through as far as I can with the information I have and the only way I can know more is if I ask Kasumi. I can only hope that she'll be even a little forthcoming with something.

"Hey, sorry it was a while, the lines were a little long." Lady Noire says apologetically as she once again brings me back to reality. "Don't worry Lady Noire, a little waiting never hurt anyone." She smiles and nods as she lays out our food and we begin to eat. I can't help but notice how she said that. She could have easily skipped the line by flaunting her power but chose not to and waited like anyone else. I'm pretty sure anyone would have literally bended over the second she even began to speak. It makes her oddly human…

We didn't really talk much after that. We sat in silence and enjoyed our respective meals and shortly decided to leave the mall. Even in our walk back to the exit, we didn't talk. It wasn't like it was awkward (least I think it wasn't), but at the same time it wasn't comfortable.

"So, Adam." We had just arrived back outside of the mall and were standing face to face as Lady Noire began to talk. "I hope you appreciated the time you spent with me, after all, it's not like any Goddess would spend her time like this with just anyone you know?" I'm totally going to get used to her tsundere antics.

"I did enjoy myself. Thank you for the great time Lady Noire." She openly glows at my thanks, never thought she'd ever be this transparent. Anyway, now would be the best time to apologize. "I'm sorry about Kasumi by the way. I have no idea why she acted the way she did, and I'll try to talk to her about today later." I do have a slight idea of Kasumi's issue. I'm not 100% of what her thoughts are so I can't say anything for sure, but I know I'm in for it later.

"It's okay Adam! It's not like I care about your relationship with Kasumi or anything, but you definitely need to talk about what happened today with her. It doesn't sound like it was normal. After all, it's times like this where friends are most important" Ah. Well. It's best she thinks that way. At the very least, she's right that Kasumi's behavior was different, albeit only slightly from the usual. Wait. I feel like there might be something wrong with that previous thought…

"You sound like a real pro talking like that Lady Noire." She sputters and turns red at my words. "But your right Lady Noire, I'll try my best to figure out what is going on with her." I say with fake gusto. I know I won't figure out what's REALLY wrong with Kasumi unless I take her up on her proposal, which for various reasons won't happen. I mean, I'll have plenty of time to find out. Up until now, I've just ignored the problem without making any effort to solve it. I've just hoped that it would blow over if I ignored Kasumi long enough. Until I've procured another sword that is. Can't do much hunting without it, and I can't afford to spend much money on a good blade, but I need a good one to fight. Ugh. Life.

"Mhm. Just don't get into any trouble mister."

"Gotcha."

…

…

…

Well, this is awkward. This feels like the time we'd be saying goodbye and going our separate ways, but I can't muster up the words to do so. I mean. What kind of person would I be to dismiss the Goddess of Lastation like that? I'd be destroyed on the spot. So, I must let Lady Noire signal our departure, but she isn't. She's just looking around us observing all the people that are currently leaving the mall. I don't know exactly what she's looking for bu-

"Hey Adam."

"Y-yes!" Pull yourself together Aoi! "What is it Lady Noire?"

"Are we really friends? Not that it matters if we are or not, I just want to know what you think." Lady Noire says as she locks eyes with an intense gaze. Wasn't she the one that wanted us to go out like this and be friends in the first place? I'd normally attempt to vocalize this, but the tone of her voice prevents me. She genuinely wants an answer to this, tsundere remarks aside.

"If I'm being honest, I'm not exactly sure." She visibly slumps her shoulders down a bit and loses the edge in her eyes. "I haven't had much experience with friends, Kasumi wasn't lying when she said we only had each other, but our relationship is quite different Lady Noire. I… honestly can't say exactly where we stand, I don't know, but I really did enjoy the time that we spent together today. I…I definitely would like to do it again. So long as you're willing to excuse my awkwardness, I'd like the chance to really be friends with you." Holy Goddess, I can't believe I just said that! I'm so embarrassed! If I could die right now, I wouldn't be slightly upset about it at all. Goddess help me! Oh. Wait. The Goddess is right in front of me… Anyway.

When I had posed my question, I had looked away in embarrassment. I really can't believe I let something out like that. It just came out so naturally! She isn't saying anything either, is that good or bad!?

…

…

…

…

…uh. Is she okay? I have no choice but to look if I want to know. Big breath Adam.

I turn around and look at Lady Noire to see that she's staring at me open mouthed and red faced. Well. This is unexpected. I uh, really don't know what to do. Uh.

"That Lady Black Heart look alike is really flustered."

"Jeez, I wonder what her boyfriend said to her to make her like that."

"If that was the real Lady, everyone would have to kill that guy for doing whatever he did to fluster the Lady like that!"

"Definitely! But are you sure that's not Lady Black Heart? It's waaay to good to be a cosplay."

"Well, Lady Black Heart doesn't normally wear glasses…"

Alright. I'm now completely sure that the people of Lastation are just insanely gullible.

"Hey, Lady Noire. Uh, we can talk about this later if you'd feel like. I'm sorry if I was a little forward so ple-"

"No!" With a frantic and excited voice, Lady Noire interrupts me and surges towards me. "Don't be sorry! You just caught me off guard is all! I mean, no you didn't catch me off guard, but you did! I mean, uggh. **I** was going to ask you the same, but I was really nervous to ask because I thought you didn't really like being out with me, I mean, who would? I'm pretty boring and just do paper work all day, I'm told that my attitude is pretty hard to deal with as well, and I'm the Goddess of Lastation! I wouldn't think that there's no way anyone would be comfortable being around me without worshipping my every step! Like, wouldn't they think that if they said or did anything to me that they'd feel like they should die? I know I'm amazing and all, but no one that is a real friend to me should think like that towards me! I'm nice and really try to take care of people and it'd be nice to have a real friend who wouldn't worship me like those cults do. I've never really had a real friend, so this would be amazing that you'd like to be my friend too, I'd love to hang out with you more as well!" Lady Noire rapid fired all this at me with a starry-eyed look really close up to. As a result, I barely catch a word she just said. The only thing I can say that I really heard is that she wants to hang out again. It's probably better that I don't know whatever else she just said.

"Uh, well." She's reaaaaally close. Like, way to close. If this is what it's like when manga characters describe the blood rushing to their face, I don't want to experience this again. I'm just gonna scooch back a little. "I'd like to hang out with you again as well Lady Noire. Like I said, I enjoyed today, and you obviously did as well. Let's keep in touch and set up another date okay?" Wait, did I just say da-

"D-d-date!?" Holy Goddess I did say what I thought I said! "I didn't mean it like that Lady Noire! I'm so sorry for making it sound confusing, I just meant that we should hang out again, I'm so sorry for wording it like that!" I say as I instinctively bow down in apology. "I-it's okay Adam. You just caught me off guard is all, I totally knew what you meant. J-just raise your head Adam! We're in public and it's embarrassing!" Lady Noire nervously says as she takes a moment to calm herself. The way she said that makes me wonder what would have happen if I meant what I said for a second. Of course, the thought is dashed in the same moment that it came. Me? A no name citizen with no real future, who barely has any special talents, is only moderately good at swinging a sword around and more mental issues than I'd ever be willing to talk about. To ask the Goddess of Lastation out to a date? Never. Not in a million years would that ever be possible. Period.

"Ah, sorry." Oh man, a quick look around us proves that multiple people are giving us odd looks. I gotta get outta here. Any more embarrassment and I might actually die! "A-anyway, we have each other's numbers. You or I can text each other. I'll just…I'll see you later Lady Noire!"

I'm not proud to say this, but I, Adam Aoi. Ran away with my tail between my legs away from Lady Noire.

"W-wait! Adam! Come back!"

I've never felt the desire to die before, but the events that just transpired now, made me sincerely hope for it.

* * *

"So how was it?"

"It was good. We enjoyed ourselves a lot, and even plan on going out again sometime."

"Really now? I don't know what you did to get her to come out with you again, but it must have been something amazing."

"I'm not to sure about that, I was just myself."

"Hmm, if you say so, just don't embarrass yourself to much around the Lady."

"Ha-ha, sure. Of course."

If only you knew mom, if only you knew. It's best that she doesn't though, I'd have to sincerely wish for death if she knew.

I had gotten home at around 7PM. Apparently the time had flew by with Lady Noire and my mom rushed me into the living room to talk about my time out with her. I told her just about everything excluding the Kasumi encounter, I also had played down the MANY embarrassing moments that happened. I don't need to relive the shame.

"Well, it sounds like you had a fantastic time, what do you think you two will do the next time?"

"I uh. I have no idea. I don't have much experience with this stuff mom."

"True, most of your time was spent with… that girl. Maybe hanging out with Lady Noire will make you better." My mom says as she muses this thought out loud.

"Yea, sure mom. Hey, I'm going to go upstairs and turn in early today. I'm kinda drained."

"Oh. Sure, go ahead Adam. Sleep well."

"Night mom." With that, I make my way upstairs towards my room to immediately open and close the door.

I probably spooked my mom doing that. Abruptly leaving like that, but I couldn't help it. Whenever she talks like that about Kasumi… I know she only thinks that way because of how Kasumi has been acting, but I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming feeling of anger towards my mom at that moment. I know. I know that I shouldn't. I have no room to be. But I can't help but feel angry.

Kasumi didn't deserve this, she has to have a reason for all this. Like, I've thought about it so many times. I know that her family owns a rather important business and that must put all kinds of pressure on her to do well in life. I have no real idea of her family life really, I've never been to her house and she never talks about it. Her personality is cold and unforgiving, but she can be warm and super nice. She isn't what everyone thinks she is, she is so much better than anything anyone can say about her. She isn-

"Stop Adam. Stop." I whisper to myself in the haze of my mental panic. I know that for a fact. I would NEVER know anything for certain until I get any sort of confirmation from Kasumi about her side of things. I've gone round and round about this stuff before, and I know I can't get anything of this. Ugh. Kasumi…

I have to call her. I **need** to call her.

With this one thought in mind. I left my room and promptly left the house before my mother could catch me. I rushed to a nearby children's park and called Kasumi in favor of ignoring my mother's text that had just buzzed in.

 _*Beep…Beep…Be-*_

" _Hello Adam, I did-"_

" _Kasumi, please answer me. What changed, why did it change, and what can I do to bring it back?"_

" _I already told you Adam, I can't tell you unle-"_

" _I KNOW!"_

"…"

"…"

" _Please. Kasumi, everything was going so well before. I know a lot changed since the incident. My father died, my mother could barely live, you… did whatever you've been doing, and I had to learn how to swing a sword. Just tell me something. Anything. I'll take a vague hint or something."_

"…"

"…"

" _Kasumi?"_

" _Adam Aoi. You're the only person in this world that I could ever call a friend. You have no idea how thankful for you being in my life, and I'm sorry that our relationship has devolved to what it is today. In truth, I'd love for us to go back, but that isn't possible."_

" _Why, you could just sit down with my mother and talk it out with her. I'm sure that you tw-."_

" _You're right."_

Her sudden admission floors me, and I'm at a loss for words.

" _I could just do just that. Make amends with her and go back to normal. But I'm sorry Adam, I can't do that. The game has changed for me and I can't just settle for our previous relationship. I can't lose you, so marriage is the only option."_

" _What?"_

" _Yes, and I'd prefer if you didn't interact with the Lady of Lastation. A Goddess and human relationship could never work. Besides, you should know."_

"… _Know what?"_

" _We only need each other, Adam Aoi."_

"…"

" _Good-night. I will see you later."_

 _*Click*_

"…"

That… wasn't what I thought I'd get. I know I wanted information, but this was a little much. Surely, she must know that something like that isn't possible. It's not healthy, and it isn't humanely possible. For humans to just interact with one and only one person isn't a good thing. I just. I don't know. I have no idea what to do/think now. I don't want to think about this anymore. Screw it.

I got up and slowly started to make my way back home.

*Bing*

* * *

Getting home, wasn't fun. I had apparently returned sometime around 8, and my mom was furious at me for suddenly running out of the house. After she thoroughly scolded me for a good half hour, a promise to never do that again, and she finally let me go back up to my room.

Which leads me to me laying down in my bed in my sleep wear. A simple white T-shirt that's a size up, and black shorts. Nice and comfortable, the perfect outfit to be sleeping. If I could that is.

With the load of information that had been dumped on me, I was completely unable to fall asleep. My mind just kept circling through it all over and over. At the end, it points to me having to take up Kasumi's proposition for anything between us to ever move on. Or. Stop being friends with her.

Ugggggggggggggggh.

I roll over my in my bed to face myself into my pillow.

"I just want to sleep." I mumble to myself as I let my eye lids droop down…

WAIT!

I wake myself back up and scramble to my phone on the nearby night stand.

I completely forgot about Lady Noire! I know I probably looked like a total coward when I ran, but I have to say something to her before the night is over. At least an apology so she doesn't think anything bad.

Unlocking my phone, I'm surprised to see that Lady Noire had already texted me.

I'm pretty… amazed actually. I didn't think that she would text me tonight. Well, I didn't really think about Lady Noire for the last couple hours, so I really shouldn't be thinking that. It's still a surprise though. I'd think that a CPU like Lady Noire wouldn't have the time to text. Well, I shouldn't think that either, I don't **exactly** know what she does on a given night. Would be wrong of me to assume she doesn't have a life.

Well, let's see what she says and respond properly before I lose my nerve.

" _Hey Adam, hope you got home alright. I'm sorry if I made you upset or anything, and I just wanted to confirm if you still wanted to hang out again."_ Lady Noire, 7:40PM.

Guess this is what my running away implied. Better fix this.

" _Hey Lady Noire, I got home just fine and sorry about running away. I just felt really overwhelmed from the day. I'm really sorry, but nothing like a good night's rest won't fix of course! Anyway, I'd be happy to hang out with you again. Just name a time and place."_ Adam, 8:50PM

I really hope she accepts my apology. I really didn't mean to offe-

*Bing*

Well now. That was quick.

" _Oh no problem Adam! It's just good to know that everything is fine. In any case, I'm fairly open for this week, so it's just a matter of what day is best for you."_ Lady Noire, 8:51PM.

Well, looks like she's going to let me decide what day/what we'll do for it.

Which leaves me with quite the dilemma.

I **WANT** to hang out with Lady Noire, but I can't help but have Kasumi on my mind. I just broke my long-standing promise with her, and I feel absolutely horrible about it. It makes me want to spend some time with her. Half to see where we stand now, and half to see if we can talk. About what? I don't know, I just feel a need to see and talk to her.

At the same time, I don't want to leave Lady Noire hanging. We just started our relationship, and it wouldn't be right to just leave her hanging like that. I know I'd hate it if something like that were to happen to me, which leaves me in this horrid situation.

Best friend.

New friend.

Childhood friend.

Goddess.

Kasumi.

Lady Noire.

...

...

What do I do?

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger! Gotta keep everyone on their toes, even me! Even though I know what's gonna happen... ANYWAY.  
I'd just like to take a second to thank everyone who's follow/fav and read this story so far. When I first posted this, I never thought it would have gotten the amount of attention it's gotten. So, big thanks to everyone! **

**Anyhow, I'll try to keep the wait for the next chapter shorter than this one was. This chapter actually has more pull than anyone would think in terms of the direction the story is going, so I had to be a little slow with it. If I were to describe it, it's like picking different routes in a visual novel. That's the sort of pull this chapter brings. Where will it lead it? Who knows!**

 **As always, thank you everyone who reads this! Enjoy and have a wonderful morning/evening/night!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I'm taking some creative liberities here for this chapter. Since I'm to lazy to replay the entirety of Re;birth 1 (up to chapter 2 at least), and the Nepedia doesn't specify levels, I'm going to assume that the monsters portrayed in the scene aren't high level.**

 **Disclaimer: All rights belong to their respective owners, I only wish to write a story :)**

* * *

Drama.

Humans tend to love this genre. So much so, that it's led to the creation of TV shows and various other outlets of media to be centered around this very topic. Be it from NepV, Neptube, Nipper, Numbler, or whatever you use. You can find drama just about anywhere.

*Slash*

Drama is also a very common topic for people to talk about. It's a simple and easy topic for anyone to get into. It's the kind of topic that you can casually bring up and it can be a hit. Of course, it depends on what exactly the kind of drama it is. Relationships of any sort are the typical main topic of drama, but just about any dispute can qualify.

*Slash* *Slash*

It's not so fun if you're part of the drama though. Having others talk about your personal issues so freely with no regard to you is pretty horrible.

It's like having your life being played out while the world is watching you through a window while making commentary about it.

*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*

Drama. It's two or more people having some sort of issue that isn't easily solved for whatever reason. That's what it feels like between me and Kasumi, and it feels like we're involving Lady Noire unknowingly. Well, Kasumi is. I think. Ugh, this is so complicated for no reason.

Looking around, I see the digitalization of the monsters around me that I had just slain. Nothing big, some Terits and Spiders.

With the nearby danger now gone, my thoughts return back to what I said to Lady Noire last night, and what led me to be out hunting again.

" _Well, if that's the case. It'd be best for me if we hung out the day after tomorrow. I kind of have something important to take care of tomorrow, if you don't mind of course."_

" _That's no problem at all! I also have something important to take care of tomorrow, so that's just perfect!"_

" _Then, I'll text you the details tomorrow, I'm pretty tired and I just want to knock out."_

" _Sure! Have a good night. Talk to you tomorrow Adam!"_

That's how I had ended my late-night conversation with Lady Noire. Afterwards I promptly fell asleep and woke up early in the morning to avoid my mother. I didn't want her to question me about last night, as she would interrogate for hours for the details of last night before she let me step foot outside the house. I wouldn't even know what exactly to say to her about last night.

After my conversation with Kasumi last night, I **needed** to get into contact with her again. All the way from my room to the park bench that I found myself currently seated in I had been constantly calling her and getting no answer. She usually would answer any of my calls at any time, so there was no issue of her being asleep, but she hasn't answered a single call since the first one. Not even a text of acknowledgement.

After the events of yesterday, in the mall and out, I just have this overwhelming feeling to be in Kasumi's presence. Enough so that I had decided to blow off Lady Noire for the day in favor of attempting to contact Kasumi. I felt horrible blowing Lady Noire off like that. New friends should try to hang out with each other as much as possible. If my education taught me anything, it's that constant contact helps build a relationship. Said relationship I'm blowing off to mend another. Just have to make it worth it.

I'm not sure how long I had spent attempting to contact her really. Hours of course, how many exactly? No idea. All I know is that she eventually responded with a simple _"No."_. That was it. No explanation, no nothing. Just a simple straight-forward no.

I'm not sure what line of thought led me to do it, maybe it was the feeling of ditching Lady Noire, maybe I didn't want to return home, maybe I just wanted something to clear my head, but I decided to head to the guild and pick up a couple quests and head out of the city.

I hadn't gone out hunting since I got out of the hospital, and I needed the distraction. The money is just a plus this time. I didn't bother to check what the quests were exactly, except that they were in THELAND SANCTUARY. I passed by a weapons shop and bought the cheapest sword and set out to my destination.

Which leads me to me where I am, in THELAND SANCTUARY, having just slain some monsters and moving deeper. When I first started to hunt, it was out of necessity to quickly earn money, but as time moved on, it served as an excellent outlet for the frustrations of life. Moving on from my father's death wasn't easy, but for better or worse, this method worked. Now, being out here will hopefully clear my head to find some way to fix everything.

Thinking about it, it's rather weird that my method calming down my stressed-out mind involves slaying monsters.

Anyway, I'm not sure how long I've been out here, or if I've even completed any of the quests that I toke up. I've just been destroying anything that's crossed my path with no real thought put into it. Luckily any items, credits, and exp is automatically collected upon a monster's death. Again, these RPG vibes are up there. These particular monsters aren't that threatening for me to have my guard up 100% anyway. Not to say I'm some sort of anime bad ass or anything that can destroy cities in a single sword swing, but some low-level monsters won't kill me easily. I've learned a thing or two about surviving out in the wilds in the time I've spent as a hunter. Of course, I've received many wounds in that same time, but you grow and learn. Although, the case with the Ancient Dragon isn't something I want to do ever again. I don't think I'd survive a second encounter with one. At least I now know that dragons certainly live up to their legend. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the feeling of a giant claw swiping me away and throwing me like a rag doll.

*Sigh*

You know, I really do have to ask myself just what am I doing? I know it's to clear my mind of what's recently been going on, but I know that I'm really just running away. At the same time though, I really do feel like I need some time away from Lastation to sort out the possibilities of what can happen.

In one scenario, I could accept Kasumi's offer and finally learn everything that's been going on with her. Her life and her whole reasoning for her proposal would finally be known to me, but at the cost of my mother being upset with me and me having to practically give up on my friendship with Lady Noire. Since, for whatever reason, Kasumi has a dislike for Lady Noire already and would likely want to me stop interacting with her. Not to mention, being married to someone tends to take up a lot of time naturally.

Next, I could ignore Kasumi and outright cut her out of my life. This would naturally please my mother as I would no longer interact with Kasumi and I could spend more time with Lady Noire and further my friendship with her. Not to mention, without having Kasumi hanging over my mind, I could maybe do something else with my life beyond being a hunter. Being a hunter was just a quick thing I could do, it was never something I wanted to do forever. The only problem with this plan is that… I couldn't do that to Kasumi. It wouldn't be fair, and I would just be reminding her of her younger days when she had no one.

I…don't think there's anything I can do to remedy this without hurting someone's feelings badly. Even if I somehow managed to get Kasumi to get along with Lady Noire, she wouldn't back off in trying to get me to marry her and I'd be forced to eventually drift away from Lady Noire. As weird as it sounds, I don't want to leave Lady Noire alone. She…reminds me of something, I don't exactly know what, but it tells me to be her friend.

It's so weird to feel this sort of attachment to someone so soon, and to a Goddess no less!

Although, I really do feel like I'm betraying Kasumi, almost as if I'm cheating on her. I've blown her off and have broken my self-induced promise to her in favor of Lady Noire in such a short span of time. I should be feeling like complete shit for doing so quickly, but I don't. Maybe all the stress and frustrations I've with her have finally shown their ugly faces and made me resent Kasumi. Maybe her acting the way that she has finally made me want to be with her less. Almost as if she's just been a ball and chain on my life and I've finally decided to let myself go free.

I haven't had the chance to think about it until now, but coming here to the Sanctuary (I've reached the end of it a while ago, guess I really got lost in my thoughts), has really given me the opportunity to go over everything in my head and I feel a sense of peace gazing at the ever expanse of the dungeon.

You know, it's just the sort of peace that you could fall asleep to. I mean, I sure as hell can't fall asleep out here in the field just like that. I'd practically be inviting some random monster to come eat me.

Still. Out here, it feels like all my troubles are miles away. It's just the right place to let my mind go and leave it to nothing. Maybe I'll just do just that for a while…can't be… har…mful…

* * *

 _ **Noire**_

I can't believe it. I really can't believe it. Like, I REALLY can't believe it.

I have a friend. An actual REAL friend. A real person!

Laying in my queen mattress with phone in hand staring at all the text's we shared, I can't help but let a huge smile escape onto my face. He's a **real** friend!

He isn't Neptune who sends mixed signals like it's her job about the state of our relationship, but an actual fully established relationship that I don't feel the need to question every second of its validity.

I'm… honestly still in shock somewhat.

When I first saw him in that hospital bed barely clinging to life, I just knew I had to save him. Not just for saving my sister, but because I felt that he was different.

With the events that recently toke place, I had lost quite the number of shares and have been very slowly recovering from that loss. One of the biggest issues was maintain the monster levels around Lastation while spearheading recovery of the nation. Uni helped, but even with an extra set of hands, it proved too much for just the two of us to handle. Normally, I'd issue quests for hunters to take on in order to regulate the number of monsters, but most of them had met their end during the crisis and the Guild was struggling as it was. The people themselves couldn't issue quests much either that yielded the usual desire for hunters, so I was quite surprised to hear about a new hunter. I hadn't the chance to thank him for volunteering for such a dangerous job with how busy I constantly was, so all I could in the mean time was issue quests with higher than usual rewards. So when I saw him in that hospital bed barely hanging onto his life, a life that was used to save my sister, I just had to save him with everything I had.

I'm… honestly surprised that it went as well as it did. As loath as I am to admit it, I'm not exactly capable when it comes to any healing ability. So, when I went with my gut and transferred my shares into him, I really had no idea what to expect. Shares are an energy that empower and keep us Goddesses alive. Introducing such a thing to a human could have done many things to him, it's never crossed anyone's mind on what shares could to humans. For all I know, it could have done something horrible to him. Luckily, it did nothing of the sort. His heart-rate stabilized and color had started to return to his face. Of course, doing this made me incredibly weak, if not on the edge of death as well. Suddenly using so many shares like that was never something I ever tried but was worth it. Seeing his mother's look of relief was just one of the things that made it worth it. Hiding my fatigue from everyone until I made it to the Basilicom was another story, luckily Uni arrived and made the trip easier.

I had to rest longer than I wanted, but Uni was able to keep me updated on his condition and his acceptance of our dinner invitation. I was a little hesitant to invite him for dinner, as most people tended to decline the invite. After Avenir and Arfoire, a lot of people didn't trust me. People only came to discuss repair projects and the future of Lastation, no one ever stuck around me longer than was necessary. I was cold to the people of Lastation and it reflected in how the people acted towards me. Brief interactions, stiff words that showed fear, a blatant desire be away from me as soon as possible, and many more. I…I knew I wasn't the nicest person, but I never thought the way I acted was a problem. Never thought about what people thought about me would do to me. Never thought about the empty office. Uni helped alleviate that pain, but it wasn't enough.

I guess that was one thing Neptune got right. I really was a Cold Heart, Lonely Heart, and whatever heart. I know she only said those things to tease me, but her jests hit the heart more than she likely realized.

I never saw my behavior as an issue before, but the recent events have really opened my eyes to myself.

Friends… have always been a difficult subject for me to approach. I get naturally nervous and afraid, so I put up a strong front to mask it. Only now have I realized that that very strong front is what keeps me from making friends or any sort of relationship. Not like many people would like to befriend a Goddess. Humans don't live long, while Goddesses live forever. I can't even begin to recount how many different people and eras of Lastation I've seen. The many new buildings and laws that have been made to this accommodate this ever-growing nation. Not a single time throughout all this time can I recall having a friend. It was all…fighting. There was never a thought of making any friends during that entire time.

I'm sure that if Uni wasn't my sister, she wouldn't want to have much to do with me. Goddess knows how much she tries to make me proud of her when I already am. Funny, how that very same desire is what put me in this situation in the first place.

Meeting Adam went way better than I had expected. Thanks to our accidental meet-up at the mall before the dinner, I was able to paint the right picture about him. Honestly, I feel that without that happy accident, I wouldn't have had the courage to ask him to be my friends when he refused all my other offers. Let alone give him my number. That was probably the most embarrassing thing I've ever done! To not only give my number to another person, but to a guy! I really thought my heart was going to explode while the exchange happened, but luckily it went over fine. He went home, and I returned to my room more excited than I ever have been in my long life.

The events that followed were something I could only ever dream of. Granted it wasn't long, but I was already starting to cherish our rather awkward friendship. I knew it would be hard. I mean, who could start to act so casually with their Goddess after all. So, I reached out to him first to try to break the ice. It's my duty after all to make my citizens comfortable, so its's only fitting that I help Adam out here as well.

Of which I almost immediately regretted because I thought he hated me! He didn't answer for what felt like hours! I knew trying to make friends was a horrible idea! Letting anyone close was only bound to hu- he answered…

O-o-of course he's busy! He has a life that doesn't constantly revolve around our friendship! I wouldn't spend every waking possible second with him either, so why would he? It's only natural that we can do things separate from each…other…

Maybe I have more to learn about this friendship thing than I thought?

I do know one thing. Being able to spend time with someone who isn't obligated to or feels the need to please is so amazing. He didn't have to accept my hand in friendship. He could have just ignored it and went on with his life, but he did and is making an honest attempt to be my friend. I'm going to have to beat out that formality of his though, can't have my new friend being so stiff with me.

Which leads me to right now, sitting in my office typing away and dealing with the daily work. Although, I can't help but worry about him and his friend Kasumi. Each time I've met her, she gives me the biggest look of obsolete hatred and changes it before Adam notices. I'm sure that I felt that look during our accidental encounter as well. I'd bring it up to him, but with how rocky their relationship seems to already be…I think it's best that I leave him to fix that. I also feel that if I spoke to her myself, it wouldn't end well.

I can't really help but feel worried about Adam right now. It really does seem like the trouble between these two runs deeper than either one of them realizes. Or at least Adam realizes.

I'd like to talk to him about it right now, but he's busy now…most likely trying to talk to Kasumi.

I just hope everything is going well for him right now.

* * *

 **Adam**

*yaaaaaaaaaaawn* Ah. Man. That was a lovely nap. I don't think I've ever napped like that in over 10 years now. I feel great from that, until I realized it's horrendously chilly out now. How long did I sleep?

A quick look around tells me that it's night now, and holy crap I can't see anything. The earlier Sanctuary has gone from being a beautiful landscape to gaze upon to a totally dark and scary dungeon. Which is what it's supposed to be...anyway, I'd better hurry back to the Guild and get back home. It isn't safe to be out in a dungeon at night. Something I learned during my early days, night time brings out the worst monsters and it's best not be around at this hour. Plan in mind, I start to rush on out, paying little attention to my surroundings and focusing on getting out.

I cleaved some of the mobs as I made my way out with little to no issue and was about to reach the exit point, when a crack in the woods around me alerted me. Suddenly, two very large wolves pounced in front of me with beady red eyes that spoke of blood lust blocking my path. Ordinarily, I'd be panicking over how they even got here, but the night brings about creatures unknown to unlikely areas.

They begin to circle me, with me pointing my sword at them cautiously. I just hope I can make it out of this with all my limbs intact.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the terribly long wait again. Me and the family are currently moving to another state, and it's been rather complicated as of late because of it. It's going to hinder me a lot, so I apologize in advance for the future wait. Anyway, I hope I wrote Noire alright here. I was tepid with putting her in like this, but I had to try. Hope everyone likes it. I've also noticed that some of the previous chapters have some pretty obvious mistakes. As I write a new chapter, I read previous ones to ensure consistency, so I'll be going back to fix some of those.**

 **Just to let you guys know of the future of this story, this should last until chapter 25 at the least. With what I currently have floating around in the mind, that's the current end goal. Also, I have a little one-shot that I've been writing in-between writing this current chapter, so that should randomly pop up when it's done. Hopefully you all enjoy that when it comes out.**

 **Final thing, I've gotten a new profile avatar! Eriksonix is the creator and I'd appreciate if you guys would go and check em out!**

 **And as always thank you everyone who has followed/fav this story! Hope you all enjoy, and have a pleasant thanksgiving! If you celebrate, otherwise, just have a great day.**


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